


Teach me to love again

by Nookirby



Category: Dead To Me (TV)
Genre: F/F, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, I have no idea where this is going, and jen is a widow, and yeah love ensues, charlie is the best wingman on earth, henry is a child, it's a parent/teacher fic, jen has a crush on judy, judy is a super cute art teacher and henry loves her, judy is being oblivious as hell, me and henry we have something in common
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:27:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 38,195
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24541549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nookirby/pseuds/Nookirby
Summary: Jen Harding has lost her husband six months ago and she's not dealing with her loss very well. She doesn't want to open up, or let herself grieve and it's starting to take a toll on her. Thank god Henry's new art teacher is an absolute angel, and after Henry expresses his worry concerning his mother, she doesn't mind crossing some boundaries to get Jen back on track.
Relationships: Judy Hale/Jen Harding
Comments: 212
Kudos: 375





	1. How was art class?

**Author's Note:**

> litrally it be taking me like 5 hrs to be already knuckles deep in a new fic so. I probably wont be updating this daily im sorry everyone but i dont have a plan for this one yet idk where we're going here. and i also probably will write other stuff on the side just because i cant commit.
> 
> basically judy didnt kill jens husband in this one. its pretty much mostly the same except judy and jen meet through school and not grief group but you know ted is still a stupid fuck and steve is an abusive motherfucker so. just really want jen to be happy and i want these gals to get a chance to start everything from a clean slate

"How was school today honey?" Jen asked her son, as soon as he had climbed on to the front seat of her car. 

"It was nice." Henry smiled at his mom, clearly happy to be back at school after taking a break to deal with his dads sudden death. "We have a new teacher too." 

"You do? What do they teach?" Jen conversed, not fully present in the conversation. 

"Ms Hale is an art teacher." Henry told her. "She's a real artist. She has her own art in a gallery." 

"You like her?" Jen inquired. 

"Yeah. She's really pretty and so funny." Henry was beaming with excitement. "I think she's my favourite teacher ever." 

"Already? After one day?" Henry nodded to his mom enthusiastically. "That woman sure knows how to make an impression then.” 

“You’d get it if you knew her.” Henry hummed. 

“I’m sure I would. I’m just glad your first day was good, honey.” Jen ruffled her sons hair quickly, before returning her hands securely to the wheel. 

Throughout the week, Henry kept bringing up this new teacher of his, to the point were Jen was starting to get annoyed, Who was this woman who charmed her way into his sons heart in just one day? She was already having a hard time with her sons after her husbands sudden departure and now she was supposed to compete with this supposedly perfect woman that had rainbows coming out of her fucking ass? No thank you. 

The first time Ms Hale was the center of their conversation after the car journey, was at the dinner table. 

“Ms Hale said that eating less meat is good for the earth. It helps fight climate change.” Henry said proudly, trying to impress his mother and brother with his knowledge of environmental issues. “She’s a vegetarian.” 

“Well, that’s a sweet thought,” Jen considered for a moment, thinking about how to explain to Henry on simple terms that she wasn’t going to become vegetarian right then and there. “ but a growing boy like you should eat some meat. Maybe we can try having a vegetarian meal once a week if you want. We could make something together as a family.” Jen suggested. 

“No thanks.” Charlie whined. 

“I think that sounds nice!” Henry couldn’t wait to tell Judy. 

“Shut up Henry.” His brother gave him a pointed look. 

“You shut up Charlie.” Jen glanced at Charlie, annoyed. “I think it’s a really good idea. “She returned her eyes to Henry, and gave him a warm smile. Jen was constantly stressed about how his father’s death was affecting the boy, and wanted to support him in any way she could. “You go upstairs to finish up your homework, me and Charlie will take care of the dishes.” Jen gave Henry a quick kiss and got up to start collecting the plates. 

“Why does Henry get to go upstairs and I have to stay here and do dishes?” Charlie complained, but got up to help his mother. 

“Because you were being rude to your brother that’s why.” Jen took the plates to the kitchen counter. “I need you to understand that, I’m working and trying to take care of you guys and I don’t have the time and energy to be fixing your arguments. You have to be more considerate with Henry.” 

“I doubt coddling him helps.” Charlie nagged. 

“I’m just trying to do my best here.” Jen was desperately trying to keep herself together, knowing full well that every night nowadays ended with her crying in bed. “Your dad knew more about this stuff, I’m not a fucking expert here but I’m trying to stay sane and make good citizens out of you. Cut me some slack.” 

Charlie seemed surprised at the sudden burst. 

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t load this onto you.” Jen apologized. ” Just don’t be a shithead okay?” 

“Okay.” Charlie nodded. 

“Just go upstairs, play your games.” Jen waved him off with a tired smile. 

“You sure?” 

“Yeah, I’ll take care of these.” Jen gave Charlie’s forehead a quick kiss and started loading the dishwasher. 

The overall third time Ms Hale was mentioned was two days later, which in reality was probably the fourth or fifth time because the boys had spent a day at their grandmothers, and Henry had certainly made sure Lorna also knew how magnificent and perfect the art teacher could be. 

“Mom could we get some art supplies this weekend?” Henry popped into the doorway of Jen’s bedroom, where the woman was going through some work-related papers. 

“You interested in art now?” Jen looked up to see Henry’s infamous puppy eyes that no one could possibly resist. “We can go get some things from the mall on sunday.” Jen returned her attention to her work before quickly glancing up once more. “This Ms Hale’s influence by any chance?” 

“She said that with practice I could be the next Monet.” Henry blushed a little, thinking of the compliment. 

“That’s some high praise right there.” Jen rolled her eyes after Henry had gone, of course this hippie teacher would let the kids believe they can do anything and now it was left for the parents to break their children's hearts and admit that it wasn’t true. 

On friday, after having listened to Henry’s constant babble about how great and wonderful and nice Ms Hale was, Jen felt a need to meet this woman, and see who the fuss was about. Yes, perhaps Jen did feel slightly envious of the attention this woman was getting from her son, but her motives were purely in Henry’s best interest. She needed to make sure that this peace loving, vegetarian, artist woman was a good influence on her son. So instead of pulling up far enough away from the school so that she could avoid the pitiful looks of fellow parents that had heard about Ted, she decided to face her fears and not only park right outside, but also head inside, in hopes of catching a glimpse of this new teacher. Maybe exchanging a few words about what’s best for Henry right now in his state, because Jen knows that best, she is his mother after all. 

Jen walks towards the school, giving the middle finger to some mom’s she knows to be bitchy and pretentious that look like they are about to approach her to say “I’m sorry about Ted.” or “Sorry for your loss.” or perhaps a “How are you holding up?”. She beelines for the main entrance and makes her way towards, where she thinks the art class could be. She’s not sure at all, because when Ted was alive, he tended to be the one who showed up at school functions and she was more of working mom. She did show up when she could, she just maybe didn’t give as much as she now would’ve wanted to. 

Completely in her own bubble, Jen wasn’t looking in front of her and felt a sudden collision happen. As soon as Jen looked up at the other woman, she knew this had to be the art teacher. She was dressed... she had her own style that’s for sure. It looked kind of cute the more she thought about it. The woman, brunette, late 30s, was dressed in a unusually patterned yellow button up and a black skirt, with some knee high boots. Not really what the teacher’s in the school usually wore, though the woman’s bangs did give her an unmistakable kindergarten teacher look. As soon as their eyes met, an apology was coming out of the woman’s mouth. 

“I’m so sorry! I wasn’t looking I’m sorry.” Jen was dumbfounded for a reason she didn't know and realized after a moment, she should also apologize. 

“No no not at all. I wasn’t concentrating on where I was going.” Jen waved her off with a polite smile. Henry was definitely right about the woman being sweet, she seemed genuinely apologetic. 

“That’s okay.” 

“Are you the... new art teacher by any chance?” Jen inquired the woman, who gave her a surprised look in return. 

“How’d you know? God do I have paint on my face again I..” 

“No no. You just.. I don’t know ...look artsy.” Jen punctuated the sentence with a smile but it didn’t really sound like a compliment at all. 

“Thanks.” The brunette seemed to not notice, or perhaps care. “And yeah I am. Judy Hale.” Judy offered her hand and Jen shook it. “Are you a parent?” 

“Yes. Henry is my son, I don’t know if you remember him. Henry Harding. I’m Jen Harding.” 

“Of course!” Judy seemed delighted to hear Henry’s name mentioned. “He is such a sweet kid. Really into music right?” 

“Yeah. He gets that from his dad.” 

“I heard about your husband. I’m so sorry.” Unlike the mom’s on the school yard, out of Judy’s mouth these words seemed genuine. In fact, the brunette had probably never said anything ingenuine in her life. 

“That’s alright. We manage.” Jen gave Judy a tight smile. 

“Yeah. I’m sure Henry can see and appreciates how much you try.” Judy reached out to touch Jen’s shoulder and instead of being bitchy about it (which crossed her mind, Jen wasn’t really a fan of strangers touching her for no reason) Jen looked at the woman for a moment, feeling a sense of recognition. Like she was somehow seen. It felt uncomfortable yet comforting. Judy’s smile was sweet and understanding, it would be hard not to love this woman. It made sense Henry had latched onto her, and besides, it would probably just be a phase. An art phase. Could be worse. 

“I hope so.” 

“I really have to go, but it was nice to meet you, Henry really is such a lovely kid. You’re very lucky.” Judy smiled at Jen who managed to stammer a bye, before the woman walked past her. Jen was left standing there, thinking about this interaction, which definitely didn’t go the way she expected it to go. Second thing Henry had been right about, was that she was pretty, Jen thought to herself, still thinking about the beaming smile that had made an appearance before Judy had left. 

Jen made her way back to the car, where Henry was impatiently waiting for her. 

“Where were you?” 

“I just had some mom business to handle. “ 

Jen drove quickly past the cars of the other parents and finally slowed down once they were safe from prying eyes. 

“So...” Jen glanced over at Henry. “How was art class today?”


	2. Beaming

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heres chapter 2 folks!

A week after meeting Judy, Jen was called into school in the middle of the day because Henry had apparently lost his temper and lashed out at some other kid. Jen was already filled with heavy dread when faced with the thought that Henry's teacher probably saw her as a failure. Now that Ted was gone it was clear to everyone that Jen was a shit mother. She screamed in her car for a few moments before getting out, earning a few looks from people passing by who had heard her. 

She walked quickly trying to navigate where to go and simultaneously avoid being seen by anyone who could add to her bad mood. And suddenly from behind a corner, popped up Judy. Jen wasn't quite sure what her reaction was to seeing the other woman but as soon as a familiar smile appeared on Judy's face, Jen decided she was pleased. She returned the smile.

"Hi." She said awkwardly, not quite knowing whether she should start a conversation when Henry's teacher was expecting her in a few minutes.

"Hi! What a nice surprise to see you here." Judy seemed genuinelly happy, which made Jen forget about the meeting and concentrate on the brunette instead. "Are you picking Henry up? It's only 10am." 

"No, he had some trouble with a classmate so I was called over." Jen explained, and apparently her nervousness was noticeable because Judy gave her arm a quick, again oddly comforting, squeeze.

"It must be hard on him, having lost his dad at such a young age. That kind of stuff can really affect children. " Judy's eyes widened suddenly. "Not that Henry is not going to be alright. He has such a wonderful mother right here."

"Yeah I don't know about that." Jen looked at the ground for a moment considering whether her issues were a result of losing her mother when she was relatively young and now the circle would repeat itself.

"What are you talking about?"

"I just feel like Ted, my husband, was always better with the kids. I don't think it comes naturally to me. I can't help but feel like I've already failed them." Jen confessed to Judy, not knowing why she would allow a stranger to see her this vulnerable.

"I think your worry speaks for itself. You clearly love your children and I can see you're trying your best. You showed up here, you're trying to make an effort to understand your son. I think that's what makes a good mom."

"That's sweet of you to say." Jen's lips curved into a quick smile, but she didn't quite believe the other womans words. "I really have to go but I hope we see each other again." Jen really meant it for once, and she wasn't sure what it meant.

"I'm sure we will."

The meeting with Henry's teacher went as expected, and Jen couldn't help but get annoyed at the teachers pretentious glares that clearly let her know that everyone in the school board assume Henry would be kicked out by the next semester, because Jen couldn't control her children alone. Or maybe she read too much into it. 

Henry seemed quiet in the car and Jen didn't want to make a big deal of the situation but still wanted to let him know it wasn't okay.

"Hey buddy?"

Henry's eyes had been glued to the window for the whole ride but now he finally turned to his mother.

"I'm sure you know that, it's not alright for you to lose your temper at school like that. I know some kids can be annoying as... heck,"Jen cringed. "but you need to just ignore them. They really aren't worth the lectures. I'm not mad or disapointed. I just want to make sure you're alright."

"I'm alright. I'm sorry mom." Henry smiled a bit sadly. “I didn’t mean to make you worry.”

“I’m always gonna worry about you honey, I’m your mom.” Jen pointed out.

The evening went by without trouble, even Charlie seemed to sense that his mother wasn’t in the mood for fuckery tonight. Despite starting to slowly feel less stressed, Jen couldn’t quite sleep at night which was a common issue after Ted’s passing. 

She woke up at 3am to get a glass of wine before starting her day of work. The kids went to school and Jen had a successful work day with very little conversing with Lorna, so the day was already the best she had had in a while. Christopher, a friend of hers from work seemed to notice the sudden good mood that was so uncommon for Jen.

“Who are you and what have you done to Jen?” He joked on their lunch break.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re practically beaming Jen. You don’t beam.” Christopher noted and Jen had to agree with him.  
“You have a guy or something?”

“God no. No guys.” Jen laughed at his suggestion. “I don’t need a relationship right now.”

“You absolutely need a relationship right now, you’re a fucking wreck. We need to get you a rich doctor so you can show him off to Lorna. Love to see her mad when it’s got nothing to do with me.” 

“So you want there to be a guy so I can make my dead husbands mother upset?” Jen raised her eyebrow.

“Well when you say it like that….” Christopher gave Jen an apologetic look before leaning in to her ear. “But you know she would deserve it. What a bitch.”

“Yeah. But I think I’m good enough at disappointing her just by being myself.”

After work Jen was still feeling that weird sense of contentness, that she had expected to disappear hours ago but it seemed to have really stuck with her. She wasn’t complaining.

Henry was also his happy self and the car was filled with laughter on their way home.

“You know, Ms Hale asked about you after class today.” Henry told his mom like it was nothing.

But it was something. Jen found herself unable to concentrate on driving, not sure why knowing that Judy was showing an interest in her life made her feel so distracted.

“W-What did she say?” Jen tried to play it cool.

“She asked how you were doing.”

“What did you say?” Jen tried to not turn the conversation into an interrogation

“I said you were stressed out and tired.”

“Why would you think that? I’m alright.” Jen was quick to assure her son.

“You told Charlie last week that you’re stressed out to be taking care of us alone and having to work as well.”

“I… that’s not something you should worry about. I’m just fine. I just had a bad day that’s all.”

“Okay.”

“I’ve had a really good week you know. The best one in a while.” Jen was beaming once again.

“Me too.” Henry was glad to see his mom feeling happier again.

They both knew that in a while meant since Ted and they both knew next week would probably carry some new obstacles. What Jen didn’t yet know, but Henry could gather, was that Judy was the one who had made the past week digestible for the both of them, and they were both eager to see her again. Though Jen would probably deny enjoying her company as much as she did. That was just her style.


	3. Just to see you again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> turns out when you dogsit your friends dog and suddenly have 2 dogs in the house, those little pals take each other out pretty quickly and i can write most of my days. so here you go fellow gays

The next week, Jen kept making excuses to go to Henry’s school and spend extra time there. It started with subtle changes to their routine like taking Henry all the way inside when driving him to school and wandering in the school hallways for a few minutes before Henry’s class ended. This wasn’t something Jen really paid attention to until Charlie called her out on this unusual behavior. 

“Why the fuck aren’t you just dropping Henry off at school like normal people? He said you take him all the way to the class. That is so embarrassing mom.” 

“Language!” 

“Sorry.” Charlie rolled his eyes. “Why the heck?” 

Jen cringed at the replacement. 

“Never mind just say fuck.” Jen made her way to the kitchen with Charlie right by her side. “And what do you care if I want to have a talk with the teachers before class?” 

“Do you hear yourself speak right now?” Charlie felt like his mother was going insane. “ I’m just looking out for my brother, you should be glad. He’s already a musical kid, we don’t need him to have any more reasons to get beaten up. “ 

“He gets bullied?” Jen’s amusement with Charlie’s dramatic complaints turned into worry within seconds. 

“No. But he will. I’m toughening him up a bit. Making sure he’s prepared.” 

“Okay, take it easy. I don’t think you need to do that. Just be nice to your brother and I’ll deal with the bullies.” Jen took out a bottle of wine, hoping she’d get to settle on the couch and watch some Facts of life as soon as possible. 

“I don’t think you’re allowed to fight children mom.” 

“Civilly. I’ll deal with the bullies in a civil manner. God. Do you have any other complaints?” Jen poured herself a glass and took the bottle with her to the couch. 

“Just stop being weird okay?” Charlie said, with some genuine confusion and perhaps concern, present in his voice, before going back to his game upstairs. 

As soon as Jen sat down on the couch, she was already going over the conversation she had just had. She really was being unusually social, and she knew it was because of Judy. She somehow managed to not think about it when she and Henry left 10 minutes early in the morning and when she came to pick him up before his class was even over and when she would run into Judy at school she would feel like the meeting was spontaneous and surprising as if she hadn’t just accomplished the goal she secretly had somewhere in the very back of her head. Those days when Judy would be roaming around the hallways and the two would stop to chat, were also days when Jen felt significantly calmer and happier. It was just the effect of the other woman. Judy would always say something sweet or compliment her and Jen would shrug it off or make a joke but after those interactions, when she was on her way home, she would replay those moments in her head and feel better. God she was crazy lonely to latch onto her son’s art teacher. Maybe she really needed a friend. Disgusting. 

It felt like she had gone too far when she was considering calling Judy on a saturday, to ask about art supplies. Jen was fighting in her head about whether, it was perfectly reasonable and made sense as she would want her son to have the best paints or whatever the fuck, or maybe it was absolutely insane and she was losing her mind. Usually if a thought like that came to her mind she would immediately think it was the latter, but Judy made it complicated, because she wasn’t really like other teachers. She would probably be very happy to hear from Jen and she would love to help any parent out if they wanted to support their children's artistic hobbies. Jen kept going back and forth but eventually decided it would be better just wait for monday instead. She didn’t want to come on too hard and scare the woman away. 

Jen didn’t see Judy in the morning, but after school she made her way directly to her classroom, which was now the only classroom Jen knew the way to in the entire school, and for once she had a good reason to be there. Jen walked to the door and heard chatter from inside, the class wasn’t over yet. She took a few steps to peek inside through the huge windows that were next to the door and she immediately made herself feel foolish once she saw Judy side eye her whilst trying to finish her class. Judy gave her a smile but Jen started to feel impatient and nervous for waiting on her outside her classroom like a creep. She didn’t want to walk to her right, where she could be unseen and safe from the embarrassment because she couldn’t help but enjoy seeing Judy explain something seemingly exciting to the kids. She seemed very knowledgeable on whatever the subject of the lesson was and the kids were all listening to her intently. Every few seconds Judy would flash a charming smile Jen’s way, that would absolutely obliterate any thoughts about just slipping away and going home, or hiding behind the door. She could feel her face heat up and she hated that she was feeling so flustered about the attention that this woman was giving her. Just smiles, and Jen was having a meltdown. She really didn't want to get into that. 

After a few minutes, the door next to her opened, and the kids started coming out in groups. Once there was no one left in the classroom but Judy, who was sitting on her desk clearly waiting for Jen, the blonde quietly slid through the doorway. She knocked on the door lightly, making Judy laugh at the awkwardness of the motion. 

“Well hey there. What can I do for you?” Jen gulped, probably so loudly that the other woman heard her, and she slowly walked closer to the desk. 

“Hi, I was just... I came to pick up Henry. And I had something I needed to ask you, so I thought, maybe I should stop by... and ask you.” Jen was contemplating in her head whether jumping out of a window or bashing her head against the wall was the best punishment for the uncomfortable stammering that had made its way into this conversation thanks to her terrible people skills. 

Judy seemed amused, which made Jen more uncomfortable, but also somehow slightly more at ease, Judy’s amusement never seemed like it was at her expense. 

“What did you want to ask me?” 

“Just about some art supplies. Henry would really like to start painting, and I don’t know anything about this stuff so I was hoping you could recommend us some beginners stuff we should get to make this dream of his a reality.” 

“That’s very sweet. He’s such a talented artist, his pieces carry so much emotion.” Judy said as she got up from her desk and walked to the back of the class to look at some art supplies they had at the school. She scribbled a few names down for Jen. “I think most of the stuff we have here is pretty simple to use and we try different techniques of course but none of them are so difficult he couldn’t try them out at home. You can help him out if he has any difficulties and you can always call me, you do have my number right? 

“Yeah, I do.” Jen nodded, getting a confirmation to her dilemma. She just stood there, and realized she had gotten what she had wanted so she should probably leave now, since Judy was probably eager to get back to work. 

“I’m glad you came by, Jen.” Judy broke the awkward silence and Jen finally let herself breathe. 

“Yeah. Thanks for the tips.” Jen waved the paper and let her eyes fall to read it just so she could excuse still being in Judy’s class room. 

“Of course.” Jen heard her speak, still not lifting her head to look away from the scribbles. “I hope you’ve been doing better.” 

“I’m great.” Jen looked up at the other woman, and she thought to herself, for once, she genuinely wasn’t lying.


	4. Please don't make it make sense

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> doing my best

Jen felt happy and she didn’t want to question it. Henry was doing better at school, Charlie was being less of an asshole and Jen had a new friend. Life felt right, a lot better than it had in a very long time. Even before Ted she hadn’t felt this good. She and the boys had a routine and she and Judy kind of had one too. The past few days the other woman had come to the main entrance, and waited for Jen, so that the two women could talk for a moment before Jen went to find her son. Henry was extremely pleased that Jen liked Judy as much as he did, and loved the attention and praise he was getting when the two women showed up at his last class together. Henry was also really getting into his hobby of painting, and Jen was pleased to see her son showing interest in something and really letting go of the stress he must be hoarding in that tiny head of his. And he wasn’t even that bad. Definitely not Monet, but still pretty good. 

Once Jen was in a good mood, Charlie definitely seemed to follow, and when she asked him to come grocery shopping with her, and help carry the bags, he only complained for about 10 minutes before agreeing grumpily. So it was definitely a great success. 

“Char?” Jen was calling out his son, who was walking so fast she could barely catch up. “Slow down! I need to look at my list.” 

“God, I promised to come here because I thought it would be over quickly. Pick up the pace mom!” Charlie groaned before talking a few steps towards his mother who was looking through the shopping list. 

“Shut it. I was gonna get you one of those games of yours but if I hear one more peep out of your mouth it’s a no-go.” 

Charlie brought his fingers up to motion closing a zipper over his lips. Jen nodded, pleased. 

They went through the shelves fairly slowly as Jen kept forgetting what she had written on her list, Charlie walked behind her, still whining but quietly enough that Jen decided it wasn’t worth getting into right now. 

“Jen?” A familiar sounding voice came from behind her, and already before turning she knew who it was. 

“Judy! What a small world huh!” Jen found a smile lingering on her face, typical of her to get all heartfelt and happy when Judy was around. 

“Yeah. I could see you from over there.” Judy pointed at the bread aisle a bit further away. “And I was just thinking to myself, is that Jen?” Judy laughed to herself, and even though she hadn’t really said anything funny, Jen found herself laughing with the woman. 

“It sure is me.” Jen gave the brunette her usual awkward smile. 

“And I’m glad it is.” Judy’s eyes moved from Jen’s face onto Charlie’s and Jen realized she had forgot he was even with her. 

“Oh.. Yeah this is my son, Charlie.” Jen motioned for him to come forward from behind the cart. 

“Hi.” Charlie smiled at Judy politely, but not bothering to hide the immediate slightly annoyed and impatient look that followed. 

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m Judy. I’m...” Judy looked up at Jen and for a moment Jen expected she would say she was her friend but Judy went the professional route instead. “I’m Henry’s teacher.” 

Charlie just nodded and Judy quickly got the hint that he was there against his will, so she said her goodbyes quickly and left the two on their own.

“It sure is me!” Charlie imitated his mother’s falsely happy voice and oh if looks could kill. 

“Just leave it.” Jen turned to continue on shopping. 

“Is she the reason why you keep spending all your time at Henry’s school?” 

“No. No. I mean we’re friends, and we talk sometimes but no I don’t go to Henry’s school just to see her that would be fucking stupid now wouldn’t it?” Yes it would. It is. Jen answered to her own question 

“I don’t know if it would if you have like a crush on her or something.” Charlie suggested, clearly aware that he had crossed a line, as he kept his distance and was looking firmly at his feet. 

“I don’t fucking have a crush on anyone. I don’t understand where you’re getting these ideas from.” Jen felt a bit over dramatic as she threw her hands in the air but she really didn’t like what Charlie was saying. 

“Well maybe the fucking giggling and heart eyes gave you away.” 

Jen stood still for a moment, just staring at Charlie like he was crazy. She was thinking about what to respond but couldn’t quite think straight, it seemed to her suddenly that there was some sense in what Charlie was saying. 

“I’ve never heard anything so ridiculous in my life.” She just said, and both of them knew she had lost this debate. “Now go get yourself that game before I change my mind about it. Nothing too expensive.” Jen motioned him to leave and continued to stand in her place after he had left. 

Shit. She did have a crush on Judy didn’t she? She definitely didn’t care to be nice or polite with anyone else, but somehow with Judy she wanted to return the kind gestures that she was getting. Normally that would probably be considered just basic politeness but Jen wasn’t particularly eloquent to say the least and tended to not give a fuck about what other people were thinking. At least on the outside. She didn’t really feel the need to waste time getting sappy. Yet she enjoyed spending time with this woman so much that she went out of her way to do so and despite their conversations being fairly simple and not particularly deep, she really felt like there was more to their discussions. Perhaps Judy saw something in her that maybe Jen didn’t quite want her to see but Judy just refused to unsee it and since she still continued to show interest in spending time with her, maybe it wasn't so bad to be seen. Maybe the feeling was mutual? Jen dismissed that idea as soon as it crossed her mind, I mean surely she wouldn’t be interested in a mean widower going through a continuous meltdown. Who in their right mind would? 

Once Charlie returned with his game (that was definitely too expensive but Jen didn’t even notice), he didn’t mention Judy again until they were in the car. 

“You know I think you should ask Jenny out on a date.” Charlie offered, trying to keep the teasing and pity of of his voice. 

“Judy.” 

“What?” 

“Her name Judy, you said Jenny.” Jen just said, but didn’t look at Charlie. 

“So you’ll ask Judy out?” Charlie already took the lack of a no as a yes. 

“No. I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Jen said, and turned to Charlie with a slightly sad smile. “But we are pretty good just the 3 of us huh?” 

“Me and Henry? We are fantastic. You? Ehh.” 

“What? Are you kidding me? I’m on top of the world.” Jen said, with no joy evident in her voice. 

“Yeah but doesn’t it get lonely at the top?” Charlie insisted. 

“Honey, I’m seriously fine. Don’t worry about me.” 

“I’m the man of the house now, mom. I gotta worry sometimes.” He quickly cringed at the genuine affection in his voice. Like mother, like son. “You know, it's in the rulebook.” 

“Didn’t know you were a rule follower.” Jen joked, but her eyes made it clear that the concern was appreciated. 

“I’m not.” 

“You do know that you aren’t the man of the house, right? I’m the woman of the house. I take care of you guys, I protect you guys. You don’t have to do any of that.” Jen assured her son. 

“Mmm.” Charlie just hummed quietly, turning to the window. Jen reached out to ruffle his hair and was playfully pushed away. 

“I love you Char.” 

“Love you mom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i like literally love these kids i wish jen would date me


	5. Mind if I punch him?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wrote this yesterday and somehow forgot to post it

The next time Jen came to the school after the grocery store run in, she couldn’t find Judy. She found this peculiar, since the woman was always there to greet her when she came to the school. Judy seemed to practically know her schedule by heart. When Jen left Henry with his friends and told him she would go find Judy, the boy nodded understandingly and Jen went to Judy’s class, to see if the woman had come to school today at all or if she was perhaps sick. The thought of Jen considering the only valid reason to miss their daily meetings to be, Judy being sick felt almost sardonically amusing to the woman. They hadn’t discussed this routine of theirs at all, it’s possible Judy just forgot or wasn’t in the mood to chat. There was no reason for Jen to believe that anything was wrong. 

Jen hurried to Judy’s class and once she was nearby, she could hear a man’s voice coming from the inside. 

“For fucks sake Judy! You have to let this go okay?” Jen could hear the man yell. “I just don’t have time for your shit right now. I’m busy with work and trying to fucking move on.” 

“I know that.” Judy managed to speak remarkably calm despite the man absolutely belting his complaints. “All I’m asking for, Steve, is that I can stop by and see if there’s anything I’d like to take before you sell our house. Don’t I deserve that?” 

“It’s my house Judy. And honestly I don’t want you there anymore.” 

“You don’t have to be there I can just let myself in and...” 

“And what? Fucking wreck my stuff? Steal my tv or something? If this is a fucking revenge operation I really don’t mind telling the police I need a restraining order.” 

“I just want the blanket.” Judy said so quietly that Jen could barely hear her. 

“Judy.” 

“Don’t do that.” Judy said, and Jen was about to walk right in and stop whatever was making the woman so uncomfortable, but just at the worst moment possible, another teacher walked by and greeted Jen, which distracted her from Judy and in fear of being caught spying outside the classroom she took a step away from the door before returning to her spot after the teacher was gone. 

“I just want to stop by for a few minutes and I’m gone forever.” Judy seemed to be desperate. 

“Sorry, no can do. I don’t trust you. You’re...” 

“Nuts?” 

“Unpredictable. I’m gonna find my way out of here, I recommend you don’t contact me again.” 

“Steve please.” Judy was begging now and Jen was debating whether she should go in and slap this guy, but since he seemed to be leaving, she thought it might be better to just go after he was gone. 

“Bye Judy.” And suddenly a dark-haired man walked out of the class room almost bumping into Jen, who was much to her embarrassment, right by the door way. Jen could hear Judy sniffling and she shot a nasty look at the guy, who just looked at her like she was crazy. 

When Jen looked inside the classroom, she saw Judy crying by her desk and Jen was suddenly filled with rage. Her anger was something that had seemed to become easier to control after meeting Judy, since she made her feel a lot happier, but now, seeing the other woman like that, made her want to go after the guy that had just hurt her like this. 

“Are you ok?” Jen asked quietly, approaching Judy slowly. 

The brunette jumped and in one motion wiped most of her tears away before finally realizing it was only Jen. 

“I’m fine.” Judy smiled at her but Jen could tell it wasn’t genuine. 

“What was that about?” Jen was clearly referring to the argument and when she saw the panic flash in Judy’s eyes, she continued. “I heard almost nothing, but it seemed like you were having an argument.” 

“Oh.” Judy seemed relieved. “It was nothing really.” She was looking at her papers, as if Jen was about to leave the other woman here alone to work after that. “What are you doing here anyways?” 

“I didn’t see you at the entrance when I came in so I just came to check up on you.” Jen said honestly, not caring if she sounded a bit needy at the moment. “I know it’s none of my business but I don’t think it was nothing if it made you this upset.” 

Judy looked like she was considering whether it was worth getting into. 

“That was my ex-fiancé.” Judy nodded at the surprised look on Jen’s face. Judy had never mentioned a fiancé to her. Then again, they weren’t even friends really. “We didn’t really break up on good terms so, that’s how our meetings tend to go.” 

“What were you arguing about?” Jen questioned. “I mean it seemed pretty intense.” 

“He’s selling our house. And there were some things left there that I would have wanted to have. Some valuable items.” Judy explained vaguely. “But he wouldn’t let me come by to get them.” 

“What a prick. Mind if a punch him?” Jen just blurted out honest to god meaning what she said, but Judy laughed for a bit so it felt worth it just for that. 

“He has his reasons. It has been a pretty hard few years for us, so.” Judy told Jen, but the blonde couldn’t really excuse him for yelling at Judy like that. Sweet sweet Judy. 

“I don’t think that gives him the right to treat you like that.” Jen said, longing to reach out for Judy’s hand. She, for once, gave in, and did what her heart so desired to and took Judy’s hand gently into hers. “You sure you’re okay? Because I’m sure we could say you got the stomach flu and I could take you home or maybe my place, if you don’t want to be alone. Or something like that.” Jen felt slightly insecure about offering such tenderness but she knew, Judy appreciated things like that. 

“Thank you, Jen.” Judy smiled at her earnestly, squeezed the blonde’s hand and started the motion of brushing her thumb gently across Jen’s knuckles. “But the kids are so excited for today’s classes I can’t just leave. I’m gonna be alright. You made me feel a lot better. 

Jen was about to insist once more that the other woman shouldn’t stay at work, but she was interrupted by someone clearing her throat in the doorway. Jen jumped away from Judy’s touch quickly, as if their hand holding could’ve went unseen. She turned to see a teacher, she didn’t quite recognize but pretty sure Henry had a class with her. 

“Am I interrupting something?” The woman asked, clearly not even caring if she was, as she walked in without waiting for an answer 

“No. Jen.. I mean Henry Harding’s mother, was just concerned about her son, so I was briefing her on how he was doing.” Judy stood up and walked Jen to the door. 

“Thank you, Ms Hale for everything you’ve done for Henry.” Jen said to Judy, feeling a bit strange about not calling her by her first name like they usually did, because you know, they were friends. 

“No need to thank me. It’s my job.” Judy smiled at Jen before mouthing a “thank you” her way. 

Jen left the classroom, feeling slightly at unease about the fight and wishing she had made Judy come home with her. The other woman had seemed so broken up about everything this man had said, that Jen didn’t really want to leave her alone right now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my dogsitting journey is over and im back to just one very energetic pupper and i also have a bit more work next week so ill try to still get out chapters often but i am pretty busy so it's gonna be mainly writing on the bus on my way to work for me.


	6. Just a dinner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry there was no chapter yesterday guys, ill try to get 2 out today :-)

Life had been smooth sailing for Jen lately and she was slowly getting used to feeling almost happy most of the time. Every day getting out of bed felt easier and every step she took was lighter than the one before. Things were really looking up. She was starting to get a hang of mothering, at least she thought she was doing a pretty good job, and she wasn't by any means a master chef but she good cook up a pretty fine casserole. Emphasis on fine. Which was Henry's official review of the meal. 

At school things were looking good as well, Charlie got in trouble occasionally but nothing horrific so Jen accepted it as a part of his teen rebellion phase and Henry had made some friends and was really enjoying school again which made Jen feel less stressed. Her boys were good so she was good.

On their way home from school one day, Henry said something that made Jen remember who she was to thank for most of this positive change in their lives.

"I skipped school today." Henry said, but didn't even seem like a confession. Just a statement.

"What?" Jen was confused now, not having heard anything of the sort from the teachers.

"Mmm." Henry nodded. "I skipped math class."

"Why would you do that?" Jen wasn't frustrated or angry, she found. Henry's calmness about the situation made her feel like he had his reasons.

"I didn't feel well so I didn't go in." Henry explained, but left something to be desired in his reasoning.

"Okay... well did you go to the school nurse?"

"No, I went to Judy."

"Honey, Judy has classes you can't go to her every time somethings wrong. Isn't the nurse more equipped with handling a situation like that?"

Henry thought about it for a moment, not Jen's question, just how to explain why Judy felt like the only person he could go to.

"I didn't want to go to the nurse. I wanted to see Judy." Henry just said. "And she said it was okay."

"She did?"

"Yeah. We talked and she said it's good that I came to her and she took me back to class."

"She took you back?"

"Yeah and she lied to Mrs Hannigan that I was sick and she had taken me to the nurse." Henry was pretty excited about that part. "So that I didn't get in trouble."

"I thought you were sick?" 

"I wasn't sick like that. I was just feeling sad."

"Oh." Jen was quiet. "Was it about dad?"

"Yeah. Something like that."

"Well, you can talk to me about him whenever you like." Jen smiled at him reassuringly. "I'm right here." She squeezed his hand gently. 

The next morning at school, after Henry had gone to see his friends Jen brought up the events of the day before to Judy.

"I heard that Henry skipped class yesterday?" Jen just said, immediately faced with a slight panic in Judy's eyes.

"You did? Because I swear I told Mrs Hanningan that he was just at the nurse." 

"I heard from Henry." Jen clarified.

"Oh. What did you hear?" Judy leaned in now, as if she was expecting Henry to have said something very vital.

"That he skipped class because he wasn't feeling well and he came to talk to you. And you were very nice about it and took him back. And on top of that you covered for him which is both sweet and unacceptable." Jen gave her a slightly judgemental look which softened within seconds of looking at the woman in front of her. "But I appreciate all of it."

"It was nothing. He was having a bad day and I like to be helpful." Judy waved it off with a smile.

"Mom?" Henry's voice came from behind them.

"What boop?" Jen turned to him.

"Maybe Judy could come for dinner or something? As a thanks for helping me out?" Henry introduced the idea innocently but there was something about the proposition that seemed off.

"I'm sure Judy is busy, honey." Jen looked back to Judy who was surprised by the invite and unsure whether Jen was saying she didn’t want Judy over or just being polite and assuming she had something to do.

"No not at all. I would love to come." Judy said genuinely. " If thats okay with you guys." 

"Please mom!"

"Sounds good." Jen smiled at thought of getting to spend time with Judy outside of school hours. "Is tomorrow okay for you?"

"Perfect. At 6?" Jen nodded in agreement. "See you then." Judy seemed just as happy as Jen about their plans.

Jen couldn't help but feel like she had just agreed to go on a date, with the woman she was wishfully thinking about most of the time, and also her kids. The situation was really one of a kind.

It didn't take long for Henry to tell Charlie the happy news, once they were all home.

"Judy's coming over for dinner tomorrow!"

"She is?" Charlie was in disbelief and briefly checked with his mother for a confirmation.

"Yeah. She is." Jen just said, face mostly blank, mind racing. She was slightly nervous about what Charlie would think and say about this. "Henry invited her." She clarified, hoping it might make things simpler.

"And you didn't say no." Charlie pointed out with a shit eating grin.

"I'm being polite Charlie, she helped Henry at school."

"Sure." Charlie nodded. "Will you guys need some privacy or?" 

"Quit it." Jen snapped at him

"Just being considerate here. Wouldn't want to crash your date mom." Charlie said innocently before letting the suggestive smirk return to his face. "You better go all in."

"It's just a thank you dinner Charlie."

"Yeah? So? I'm sure she would appreciate some flowers or something?" 

"I think that would send the wrong message." Jen said pointedly, having decided to keep her calm just get through this dinner without any hijinks

"The wrong message being that you like her a lot?" Charlie raised his eyebrow. 

"Charlie, come on. Take it easy. She's coming because Henry insisted and I need you to behave during the dinner.

"I'm behaving. Just being rational here."

"Well stop it. Go upstairs or something." Jen left the conversation without another word, not wanting to give Charlie a chance to shoot another snarky comment her way.


	7. Crazy about you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heres the dinner guys :-) have a good night morning day time

For the entirety of friday, Jen's thoughts were occupied by Judy and "the date" that was clearly not a fucking date because her son invited a woman over for dinner and the whole family was there. Around 4pm Jen was starting to sweat and the nerves were really kicking in. She was making a simple vegetarian risotto, it was the easiest thing she could come up with that perhaps wouldn't impress Judy but wouldn't be insanely lazy either. Around 5pm, an hour before the dinner, a car pulled up outside and Jen was panicking, thinking Judy had got the time wrong. She was nowhere near ready with the food and she was still in just sweatpants and a hoodie.

When she reluctantly opened the door, instead of being blessed with Judy's smiling face, it was a very annoyed Lorna, who was standing right outside.

"Are the boys ready?" Lorna attacked her impatiently.

"What?" Jen was in shock.

"God Jennifer. Do I have to do everything for you. Are the boys ready?"

"We are ready grandma." Charlie's voice came from the stairs.

"What? Where the fuck are you going?"

"Language!" Lorna spat out, if it was possible for her to get more annoyed, she was really getting there.

"We are going to grandmas tonight." Charlie said, and when Jen looked back at his son coming down the stairs, he raised his eyebrows and gave his mother a small smile. Charlie really thought he was doing something here.

"We have plans, you can't just go." Jen practically ordered.

"You have plans mom." Charlie tapped her shoulder gently. "Good luck."

"No. No no no." Jen was practically begging now, she couldn’t have dinner with just Judy. That would make it too much like a date. Which it wasn't.

"Are you telling me I agreed very last minute may I say to take the boys and now I came here for no reason?" Jen already knew there was no reason to fight, Lorna came here for the boys, she was going to leave with them. Charlie took his and Henry's overnight bags outside with the help of Lorna and Jen was stunned at the situation.

"I guess I have to cancel."

"No. Mom! Judy really wanted to come." Cane Henry’s plea from behind her.

"She wanted to come because you asked her to." Jen softly explained to him.

"Just tell her I had other plans and I forgot." Henry said.

"That doesn't seem like a good beginning to a thank you dinner."

"Then make sure she knows how grateful we are by the end of the night!" Charlie yelled from the car. "Come here Henry, let's go.”

Once Jen made her way back to the kitchen, she felt like she was going to go insane. She should definitely cancel, but she couldn't help but not mind the idea if spending one on one time with Judy. It's just not what the other woman signed up for. After a good 20 minutes if absent minded cooking, Jen's phone rang. It was Judy.

"Hi, it's Jen."

"I know, I called you." Judy said with a small laugh, her voice wavering a bit like she had been crying.

"Right."

"I'm sorry, Jen but I don't think I can make it. I'm having a bad night and I don't think I'd be a very desirable dinner guest."

"Is everything okay?" Did Steve do something, Jen kept wondering in her head but refrained from the guestion in case it felt too invasive for the brunette

"I'm fine." Judy sniffled, probably trying to crack a smile.

"No you're not." Jen was worried about her friend. "It turns out I forgot that the boys were going to their grandmas today."

"Oh. So the dinner is off?"

"The dinner is yes, but I do have a pretty good collection of wine here that I would love go through with someone. I was wondering if you'd be interested?" 

"I don't know, Jen. I'm kind of a wreck right now I don't know if you can hear."

"There's nothing I love more than comforting people." Jen blatantly lied but she really didn't mind the idea of comforting Judy.

"Why do I feel like that isn't true?" Judy laughed again, making Jen's heart beat so goddamn quickly she considered hanging up before she died of heart failure.

"Okay I'm not the sappiest, I admit. But I'm a decent listener and I really would like to at least make a poor attempt at comforting you if you'll let me?"

"Okay." Judy agreed.

"Okay?"

"Yeah. I'll come over."

"Great. Good. I'll get out the wines."

In 30 minutes, a taxi was already pulling outside, and Jen was pacing around in the kitchen nervously. Once she heard the doorbell ring, she practically ran to the door and took a few deep breaths before letting the disheveled woman inside.

“Hi.” Judy greeted her awkwardly as Jen was leading her to the kitchen.

“I’m glad you came.” Jen smiled at the other woman warmly and motioned for her to sit down.

“It’s nice to not be alone.” Judy gave Jen a tearful smile, that broke Jen’s heart into a million pieces before she collected herself and got out some glasses for her and Judy. “So Henry and Charlie are at their grandmas?”

“Yeah. I don’t know how I forgot that I had already promised Ted’s mother that the kids would be going over tonight.” Jen lied awkwardly. “There’s no use in fighting Lorna.” That was definitely true.

“That’s alright.” Judy assured her. “I mean I would have loved to have seen the boys, but...” She gave Jen a meaningful look that the blonde was definitely reading into too much. “...I definitely don’t mind spending time with just you. We never have that much time to talk at school.”

“Yeah. Definitely.” Jen was nodding, feeling giddy at the confirmation that Judy actually liked spending time with her somehow. “I’m not too sad about it either.” Jen confessed, and offered Judy a glass of wine, which the other woman took gladly.

“I don’t really have many “girls nights”, so this could be fun.”

“Me neither. I’m not very popular with the other moms, I don’t know if you know.” Jen was annoyed already thinking about them.

“I wonder why.” Judy teased.

“Because I’m a fucking bitch, that’s why.” Jen said nonchalantly and took another sip of her wine. “At least I own it.”

“I don’t think you’re a bitch.” Judy was looking at her with those beautiful kind eyes and Jen was definitely having a very hard time being bitchy right now.

“Just don’t go around the school spreading the word. I’d rather the mom’s keep their distance.” 

“I promise I won’t. It’s not like I’m having dinners with the other moms from school.” Judy laughed a bit. “You’re my only one, I gotta keep you happy.”

Jen was pretty sure her heart was doing backflips at the words of the other woman. She was almost choking on her wine, despite trying to keep her reaction minimal, so that Judy wouldn’t catch the effect of her teasing had on her.

After a quite a bit of drinking and some laughter, Jen, after some liquid courage, couldn’t help but get nosey and ask about the woman’s earlier state.

“So what was that, on the phone? I mean you seemed pretty upset, and I was just wondering why.” Jen inquired, trying her best to avoid pressuring the other woman.

“That was nothing.” But Judy’s uncomfortableness with looking the other woman in the eye told otherwise.

“It didn’t really seem like nothing.”

“Steve just got to me I guess.” Judy looked up at Jen to see her listening intently, waiting for Judy to elaborate. “We broke up not too long ago, and it was pretty hard on both of us. But Steve just wants to move on so badly that I can’t help but feel a bit hurt.”

“Of course. How long were you guys together for?”

“God, years. It was really serious, we were engaged and... we really wanted kids.” Judy took a pause to think whether to continue or not and once she seemed to have settled on silence, Jen encouraged her on.

“What happened?”

“Erm.. I... I had a miscarriage.” Judy said, studying Jen’s face, there was no plain pity in her eyes, Jen was looking at her warmly with such care that it seemed to almost shock Judy. “And another one. And three more after that. And then he left me.” Judy’s eyes returned to her lap.

“God, Honey. I’m sorry.” Jen reached out to wrap her arm around Judy gently but securely. “Steve is a fucking asshole for leaving you at a time like that. I’m sorry that you had no one to go through that with at the time, but I’m here if you ever want to talk about anything.” Jen assured the woman, wrapping her arms tighter around the small brunette as she placed a kiss on Judy’s head.

“I guess he is an asshole.” Judy agreed slightly reluctantly, clearly feeling a need to defend the pricks behavior.

“He is.” Jen kept hugging the other woman, not wanting to let go. “You will be such a good mom some day.”

“You really think so?” Judy pulled away a little to face Jen, whose face was dead serious as she bombarded her friend with compliments.

“Absolutely. I mean you’re the kindest fucking person I know. You’re really smart and funny, and so good with the kids at school, not that I stay to watch your lessons after I take Henry to class.” Judy laughed, and Jen gave her a smile before going on about the brunette's capabilities. “Charlie liked you instantly and you’re so amazing with Henry. He is crazy about you, and I can’t even be jealous because I get it.”

“You crazy about me too?” Judy teased Jen, who was suddenly unable to look anywhere but the other woman’s lips, that were curved into a slightly suggestive smile.

“You know I am.” Jen attempted to joke but quickly gave her a tight smile before pulling away all together to go fetch them another bottle of wine, despite there still being an unfinished one on the table. When she turned around, Judy sat there with a knowing smile, and Jen looked away briefly, not quite certain if the other woman felt the same tension in the room that she did.

“You know what Henry said to me, when he came to me on wednesday?” Judy said, her voice carrying a lightness that almost made Jen suspicious.

“What did he say?” Jen looked at her, deciding it was better to stay on the other side of the counter and avoid giving into the craving to hold the other woman. She brought the wine to her lips, unaware of what was about to come.

“He thinks that I should ask you out on a date.” Judy said, eyes staying on Jen’s, who spat out her wine in shock.

“What?” Jen was getting flustered at her sons suggestion. Henry too?

“I mean what he really said was that he was worried about you, and he thought you might be lonely. And then he said that you liked me a lot and he started telling me how great you were and how you would be a good girlfriend, and that we should spend some time together sometime.” Judy laughed a bit, making Jen let out an uncomfortable sound that she hoped resembled a laughter just enough for the other woman to not catch how flustered she really is.

“What did he say about me?” Jen asked, mostly to avoid the inevitable question of "Do you agree with him?" "Should we get together sometime?" "Are you possibly maybe interested in me because god..."

“He sold you pretty well.” Judy was nodding, thinking back to the conversation. “And I guess here we are on what some would call a date? So can’t have been too bad.” Judy took a sip of the wine and leaned back in her chair.

“Oh. I mean, I didn’t realize that the boys weren’t going to be here, it was meant to be a family dinner.” Jen started stumbling over her words, fearing that Judy thought she had planned this.

“I know, I’m just joking.” Judy giggled at Jen’s reaction. “I think it’s sweet that he worries so much.”

“Yeah. It is, I’m just sorry he dragged you into my problems.”

“ I really don’t mind. I like you. I like being your friend.” Judy reached out to hold Jen’s hand, which was almost too much tenderness for one night in Judy’s opinion.

“I like being your friend too.” Jen smiled quickly, trying to forget about the closeness of earlier and the suggestive tone of Judy’s voice when talking about the possibility of this being a date.

“I feel like I should get going. I’m sorry to run out on you like this but it’s getting pretty late.” Judy apologized but Jen just nodded and smiled at her.

“I know, it’s fine. You should go and I should definitely slow down on the wine.” Jen finished her glass before walking to the door. “I’m glad you took a taxi or you might have had to just stay the night.” Jen laughed and immediately cursed herself for even suggesting the possibility of Judy staying over when she was this drunk and yearning like a teenager.

“Yeah, I thought I might not be leaving particularly sober.” 

“Not under my roof.” Jen joked before leaning against the wall to wait for Judy to get her shoes on, and call herself a taxi. They waited for a moment in silence, not quite looking each other before a car pulled outside and they shared a smile. It was literally like the end of a fucking first date, Jen thought to herself.

“Thank you, Jen.” 

“Thank you, for what you did with Henry, and for coming tonight.”

After Judy was gone. Jen sat down in the kitchen and felt almost like crying. She didn’t know what she had been thinking to even invite the other woman over, when she clearly had feelings for the brunette. To get drunk with your crush was really not the best plan. At least she hopefully made Judy feel a bit better. That was something. And she definitely didn’t mind the memory of Judy in her arms, which she was going to treasure. God, how sappy is that? She was really going soft.


	8. You guys are kinda gay

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys hello hi.. hey

The next morning Lorna brought Henry home around lunch time, and told Jen that Charlie had gone out with his friends. Jen didn't love that she hadn't been asked about it, but she was too tired and hangover to argue. Lorna however, apparently had nothing against being a bitch on a saturday. 

"I love having the boys over but I don't appreciate visits on such short notice. So next time perhaps ask your lady friend to wait a few days so that you can take care of your kids first and foremost." 

"I... excuse me?" Everything Lorna had just said went over her head. She had no idea what was going on. 

"I was just saying, I would appreciate if you would consider your children's well being before inviting overnight quests." She said, pronouncing the last words with particular disgust. 

"I don't think I follow. I had dinner with Henry's teacher, Lorna." 

"Yes I heard about that and I don't think it makes this any better. If you're lonely, get a vibrator for gods sake. No need to become a lesbian." 

"I had dinner with her! I didn't screw her! God what is wrong with everyone." Jen was really feeling like she could slap a bitch by now. 

"If you're insinuating that you are just friends with this woman, no need. Charlie told me. I'd appreciate if you wouldn't lie to me." Said the bitch in question. 

"So you'd rather believe a teenager than me?" Jen finally snapped. "I'm not dating Judy! I'm not doing anything with Judy! We are friends, motherfucker. And if I'll become a lesbian anytime soon I'll send you a fucking card ok?" 

"You sure seem angered by some light banter, Jennifer. You should know I carry very liberal values." Somehow Jen doubted that. "But have your secrets. Just be more tasteful about it next time, won't you?" 

Jen just shut the door in the other womans face. Fuck that. 

Once Charlie was finally home, Jen caught him in the stairs before he had the chance to go to upstairs. 

"Come to the kitchen, we should talk." 

Charlie reluctantly followed his moms lead and sat down in the kitchen, fidgeting anxiously. He knew what had done. 

"I'm not mad okay? But you can't go around telling Lorna that I have a fucking girlfriend? Like you can probably guess that didn't go down very well." 

"All I said was that you have a date. I swear that's all. But Lorna kept asking about the gentleman in question and Henry just started praising Judy. I mean you know how he is." 

"Yeah. I do." 

"So how did it go?" Charlie couldn't hide his enthusiasm. 

"Charlie." 

"I mean you do like her right? So I did you a favor." 

" No. Because Judy and I, we are friends. And I really don’t understand why you’re so obsessed with getting me laid all of a sudden, when did you become my wingman?" 

“I just...” Charlie hesitated for a moment. “I know you and dad stayed together just because of us.” Jen opened her mouth to say something but Charlie stopped her before she had the chance. “ Don’t say it’s not true. A fucking idiot could see that you weren’t happy, not the last few years. And now dad’s gone and we are all so sad but I don’t want you to not date because of us too. I don’t want me and Henry to keep you from being happy.” 

“Honey, you aren’t keeping me from being happy. You’re making me happy.” Jen’s heart was breaking at the thought of Charlie blaming himself for her issues. “Me and your dad stayed together because we wanted to make it work, not only for you but for us. It’s not your fault that our relationship wasn’t always perfect. “ Jen cupped Charlies face gently. “And I’m glad to know you’re supportive, I’m just not quite ready to date yet.” 

"I didn't mean to pressure you. I just thought maybe you liked her and were afraid to ask her out or something." 

Jen sighed. 

"I do like her. But this isn't a great timing. But we did have a nice time just as friends. It was admittedly quite nice to talk to someone who isnt a child." 

"I'm like almost 18." Charlie argued despite his 18th birthday still being a few years away. 

"Shhh. No don't say that you're a baby." Jen sushed him gently before wrapping her arms around him tightly. 

"I'm really not." Charlie was fighting a tiny smile. 

"You're not? Cause I could swear you peed your pants at walmart just a few years ago?" 

"Mom! We don't bring that up okay? You promised." Charlie pulled away to give Jen his angriest pout before settling back into his mother's arms. 

"I know. Just teasing." Jen hugged him tightly and shook with laughter. "I know you meant well with the whole Judy thing. And I appreciate your concern, but I'm gonna start dating when I feel ready and it might be next week or next year or never, but that's not gonna affect you guys. For now me and Judy are just friends and I'm happy with that." 

"I just don't want you to mope around or anything. I don't want you to be alone... I mean Henry is like super stressed about it and it's kind of annoying to have to listen to his whining." Charlie groaned, trying to cover his own concern with annoyance as if the conversation had just started to take an emotional toll on him. 

"Yeah I was hoping you could talk to him. Just throw it into the conversation that I'm better off single right now." 

"I'll figure something out." 

"Thanks Char. You're a peach." 

"Did you just call me a peach?" Charlie was amused with his mothers confusion with her choice of words. 

"Judy's influence." 

"I really like her you know. Henry talks about her a lot and she seems sweet." Jen was looking at Charlie with a warning in her eyes and he cleared his throat quickly before continuing. "I just mean I think you deserve a friend like that. I think that might be good. You kinda have a lot of issues." Charlie joked, but both of them knew Jen had her fair share of human wreck qualities. 

"Yeah, I think those are just a part of the package." 

"Judy sure doesn't seem to mind them." As soon as it was out of his mouth, Charlie raised his hands up in surrender. "Couldn't help it! I promise that was the last one." 

"I doubt it." 

"Yeah, you guys are kinda gay." Jen rolled her eyes at his comment.

"Okay, matchmaker, go fetch your brother down for dinner." Jen slapped Charlie on the shoulder lightly and leaned against the counter to watch him run upstairs. Now that she had finally cracked Charlie, life had to be simpler right? Less trouble, less awkward situations.


	9. Fucking Thelma and Louise

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry it took a bit longer this time but heres the chapter lads

On monday, Jen's uncomfortableness was through the roof when driving to the school. Despite the two women having ended their dinner on not particularly awkward terms, she felt like with all the talk about dating, their relationship had shifted. Judy probably wouldn't think so, since she didn't really seem unsettled by the thought and was able to joke about it so freely, but Jen was full of all this sappy shit and pretty much drooling whenever she saw Judy in her cute little dresses, so the whole "everyone wants us to date" talk really got to her. 

Jen tried her best to hide these feelings as she navigated herself and Henry trough the crowd of parents and kids outside the school. She could already see Judy at the door, conversing with some mom, whilst stealing glances with Jen. Once Jen was finally right by Judy, she made an effort to wait patiently a few feet away for the mom to be done with her praises; everybody really loved Judy huh? At least she wasn't alone in this. Once the mom had said her goodbyes and headed inside, Jen swiftly scooted herself in her place. Judy's smile widened from the polite one she gave at school to teachers and parents, to the warm smile that Jen hoped perhaps selfishly had been crafted for her specifically. 

"Hey." Judy greeted her, happy as ever. 

"Hi." Jen stood stiffly before forcing herself loosen up a little, so that Judy wouldn't pick up on her weird behavior. "The moms sure do love you." 

"Yeah I guess they do." Judy laughed. "You one of those moms in question?" Judy leaned in a bit with a smirk. The flirting wasn't just the wine then. 

"Oh I'm the head of the fucking fan club." Jen said, making Judy laugh once again. 

"I'm honored." 

"Don't let it get to your head." Jen teased the brunette. Judy was still smiling, and Jen was pretty sure she could say anything and it wouldn't wipe the smile of her face. "You're in a good mood today." 

"I guess I'm just happy." 

"That's great. I'm glad you're feeling better." Jen was smiling too now, and dangerously unable to stop looking at Judy's mouth; she really had a nice smile. 

Jen's thoughts were interrupted by a kid bumping into her, reminding her they were at the school. 

"Thank you for friday." Judy almost whispered. 

"No need to thank me. That's what friends are for right?" Jen asked as if she knew. 

"Yeah." Judy didn't seem to be sure either. 

"Did you... get that priced possession of yours?" 

"No... but it's fine. It doesn't matter anyways it's stupid." Judy was clearly trying to assure her it wasn't important so that Jen wouldn't be too concerned. But that definitely didn't work. 

"Give me his address." 

"What?" 

"Give me Steve's address." Jen almost demanded, but kept the tone of her voice soft. 

"No, Jen, what do you think you could do?" Judy reached out instinctively to touch Jen's hand, which Jen was pretty sure was originally meant to be a calming arm touch but perhaps Judy aimed too low and now Jens hand was on fire and the moment felt insanely intimate despite their loud surroundings that both women failed to fully recognize. Jen wondered for a moment, when did Judy touching her become something casual. 

"Trust me, I'm really fucking scary when I'm angry. And I'm really angry at this asshole for treating you like that.” 

"Jen." Judy was staring at their hands as she brought her other hand to Jen's. 

"Judy. Just give me his address and I'll talk to him. I'll be nice okay." 

"Okay." Judy was nodding now, looking up at Jen, who, started to come back to reality and really see all the people walking past, some of whom were staring at them. They were literally holding hands by the school entrance. She couldn't see any teachers she recognized, and Henry must be inside, so it didn't really matter what these parents thought. 

Jen pondered her choices, and thought of the pros and cons of her two options here. She could keep holding Judy's hand, pro: she would get to hold Judy's hand, con: Henry or someone she knew could see her holding Judy's hand and read the situation wrong.(which would probably be more right than how she was explaining it to herself right now) But she could also let go of Judy's hand which had the attractive pro of: people would stop looking at them, but on the flipside she would be letting go of Judy's hand and maybe the worst one of all was that she might upset Judy, who seemed so content like this. 

Jen squeezed Judy's hand and moved a both further away from the entrance pulling the other woman with her. 

Once they were standing in the sidelines, Jen came to terms with the fact that their conversation had just ended a few seconds ago and now her pulling Judy aside, carried the message of: I still have something to say, something important because I can't say it in front of other people. Judy was looking at their hands awkwardly, not pulling away. 

"Can I smack him?" Jen forced her face into a teasing grin, despite feeling more like tearing up from the contact. 

"No smacking for you." Judy was looking at her with such adoration in her eyes that Jen felt like a panic attack was coming. 

"Okay." Jen just said, and slowly slipped her hand away from Judy's. "I should get going. Text me the address?" 

"Don't do anything stupid Jen, please." Judy was serious now. 

"I won't. I just want to help you out. A favor for a friend." Jen placed her hands very awkwardly on her waist own waist, not knowing what to do with them now, as if their only purpose was to hold Judy's. Judy smiled at her, grateful but nervous. 

"That's very sweet. You don't need to do anything. Just having you around is enough to make me forget all about Steve." Jen wondered about the subtext of Judy's comment and the whole situation that was slowly turning into fucking Thelma and Louise. This didn't feel like something friends did, and it felt to her like Judy wasn't even trying to be friends. 

"That's good to know. But I don't want that asshole to hold anything over you, so I'm gonna go have chat with him okay?" 

"Thank you." 

"I really should go. And I think you might be late for class?" 

"Oh fuck." Judy slapped her forehead and finally looked around her to see everyone had gone inside. 

"Go!" Jen was rushing her as the brunette still just stood there. "Why are you still standing here?"

"I think you might be my best friend." Judy just stated with a smile.

"Oh." Jen was a bit surprised. Judy seemed so social she had kind of assumed that the other woman had a load of friends that probably were nicer and so much more artsy than her. "You're mine too." 

Judy smiled especially brightly at this, beaming, before wrapping her arms around Jen's neck and quickly flinging herself inside before Jen had even time to react. God this shit was unbearable. Judy was practically the sun and somehow Jen didn't find her annoying, but quite the opposite. She found herself constantly feeling lighter around the other woman, and wanted to be better for Judy and her boys. It was probably a welcome change, but it still felt unsettling to notice that she didn't quite mind Judy's touching, that perhaps had been a bit of shock when she first met the woman, and she didn't hate the compliments, because from Judy's mouth they carried a weight like no other, and she didn't mind it when she found herself smiling like a fool in the presence of the other woman. It was nice and it was different. Something new. Something good.


	10. Afraid to write the stronger word

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ive literally been on the road with my dog all day im dead in every possible way except the dead way and i will not proof read this so please forgive me i love you specifically

Right as Jen turned to leave and finally head home, she felt a hand on her shoulder, and when she turned around, instead of Judy, she saw another teacher.  
“Hey Jen!” The woman, whose name Jen couldn’t remember and didn’t care to know, greeted with a bit too much enthusiasm. “So I was hoping to ask you something.” The teacher was clearly nervous and she did have a good reason to be, because it was early and Jen was in dire need of coffee.

“Well shoot.” Jen could not look less interested.

“We have the annual school trip coming up, and we need volunteers-”

“Fuck no.” Jen immediately shot her down.

“Oh, but I...”

“Sorry. I’m busy with work, I’m sure you understand.” Jen was not hiding the fact that she wanted to leave. Surely the woman must know that Jen wasn’t one to take part in school related dillydallying.

“I thought you would be free, Judy recommended you.” The woman said apologetically, turning to leave in hopes of not upsetting Jen even more.

“Judy recommended me?” And all of a sudden Jen was interested in the conversation and the annoyance was gone. “Is she going?”

“Yeah, it’s a museum trip, art and history and...” The woman was surprised by Jen’s sudden change in mood.

“And she wanted me to come?”

“She said you would be an excellent parent to invite to come with us. I admit me and the other teachers were not very convinced, as you haven't taken part in any other school trips before but she seems to believe in you quite a bit. But since you’re busy with work I’m sure some other mom will...”

“I’ll come.” Jen agreed, knowing she couldn’t let Judy down. 

“You don’t even know when it is or any of the other details. Are you sure you can manage with your work and all?” The woman was now confused with the sudden mood change.

“Yeah, Judy can tell me everything I need to know. I’m coming.” Jen gave the agreement a determined nod and with that, she left.

In the car she was cursing to herself for what she had gotten into. First Steve and now this, Judy was really testing her. Jen decided it would be best to go get some work done first and visit Steve before she went to pick up Henry from school.  
Jen barely got through her work day, and was constantly intruded by Lorna, who kept complaining about her inability to concentrate on anything. Fair enough. Her thoughts were on Steve and what she was going to say to the guy. She considered just leaving him for dead, but it would probably not agree well with Judy. Too bad.

Jen was pretty worked up after work, and she was well aware “really fucking angry” wasn’t a good state to meet Judy’s ex in, but there probably was no chance she would be in good mood when visiting a fucking prick like Steve.

Once she was finally outside Steve’s house, Judy’s old home, she wasn’t feeling much calmer about the situation. She wouldn’t bash the guys car with a golf club, but she could probably slap him hard enough to get the message across. The message being; I really like Judy (I'm afraid to say write the stronger word) and if you fuck with her again, I will come for you. 

She rang the bell a few times too many to seem like a sane person, and when the door opened, she took in a deep breath.

“Yes? Do I know you?” Steve seemed confused and didn’t recognize her from the school.

“I’m a friend of Judy’s.” Jen just replied, fairly calmly considering the violent insults going through her mind.

"Have I not been clear enough? I don’t want anything to do with her.”

" Oh, I'm here to make sure Judy will never have to see you again. I just need to take some of Judy's belongings with me." Jen said vaguely realizing she didn't quite know what Judy had wanted from the house. 

"Sorry but no. I don't know you. I'm not letting you into my house."

"I already said, I'm a friend of Judy's. We met at the school." Jen was already getting impatient with this jerk.

"Oh I don't think that makes it any easier for me to trust you. If you're nuts enough to call Judy your friend? I'm probably in for something bad if I let you in."

"You're in for something bad if you don't." Jen was grinding her teeth violently.

"Is that a threat?"

"It's me giving you a choice. Either you let me in and you won't see Judy or me ever again, or you don't let me in and I show you nuts."

"I have security cameras on my yard."

"Oh yeah? You think I give a fuck?" Jen took a step forward.

"Anyone tell you before that you're kind of a psycho bitch?" Steve moved back a bit but didn’t start closing the door so it could be taken as an invite by some.

"Anyone tell you to not call a woman a psycho bitch when she’s angry?” Jen spit out. 

“Why the are you so worked up over this? It’s none of your business.”

“It is my business because it’s something that matters to Judy.” Jen calmed down slightly at the mention of Judy in her defense.

“Okay...” Steve was studying her and Jen didn’t like it one bit. She hated feeling this angry, especially when the person she was angry with was fairly calm, because now she felt out of control.

“Just give me five minutes?” Jen said, almost feeling like she had just given up the power in this situation, she really just wanted this to be over so that Judy wouldn’t have to see Steve again. 

“I can just go get the rag if you get off my yard.”

“What rag?”

“It’s the baby blanket she wants isn’t it? There’s nothing else of hers here.” Steve pointed out clearly assuming that Jen knew this already.

“Oh right. Yeah.” Jen crossed her arms and nodded in agreement. Steve went inside and left Jen standing there right by the door. Jen felt almost proud about not exploding on him too much. He kind of would have deserved it for leaving Judy like that, but Jen also knew Judy didn’t need to have Steve calling her with complaints about her anger management related issues.

Steve came back in no time and he was holding a little blanket. Jen was almost in disbelief that this was all Judy had wanted from this big house, and considered the possibility that Steve was lying, but it really felt like Judy. To want a simple blanket that probably held a lot of memories. Judy sort of came off as a hoarder, Jen shivered at the thought of her garage being filled to the brim with flea market junk. Then in turn she questioned why Judy’s hoarding collection would in her mind eventually end up in her garage.

“Here it is.” Steve lazily handed Jen the blanket.  
Jen didn’t say anything, mainly out of spite as Steve didn’t really deserve a thank you for being decent after being a prick.

“I feel like it’s my responsibility to warn you, “ Steve started to speak and Jen groaned for not leaving a second or two ago. “Judy is kind of a lot.” This comment caught Jen’s attention immediately and not in a good way. “She’s needy and kind of nuts, really just unhinged. So if you were thinking of-”

Jen didn’t want to hear another word.  
“Go fuck yourself.”

“Excuse me?”

“Go fuck yourself. How dare you fucking whine about Judy behind her back when she’s been through so much and you abandoned her. You should be ashamed of yourself.” Jen took a deep breath, but Steve didn’t even dare to defend himself during the pause. “You know what? I’m glad you left though. Because Judy deserves so much better than a fucking dickhead like you. She is fucking everything, and she has the right to go crazy sometimes okay? Because trauma fucking does that to you. So fuck you you fucking asshole, I hope I never have to see you again."

“I could say the same about you.” Steve said, his eyes still wide, not having expected to be called out like this.

“Shut the fuck up Steve.”

Steve just stood still. He had backed away quite a bit during Jen’s outburst and seemed worried, rightfully so.

Jen just left, she walked away and left. This didn’t really feel like her best moment and she didn’t know what she would tell Judy about their chat, but she felt she did the right thing. Fuck that asshole for hurting Judy. 

Once Jen got to the school again, she had taken a good few rounds around the block before finally driving her car outside the school building. She still didn't feel fully calm but she was getting there. She could see the kids coming out as she walked towards the building, and she was trying to make out if Henry was one of them.

Once she had gotten inside, her eyes were immediately met with the sight of Judy and Henry laughing together about something, in the lobby. Once Henry noticed her coming towards them, he ran to his mom with open arms, swirling them around slightly in the process, and ran outside, giving his mom a big smile on his way out.

"What's with him?" Jen asked once she finally got to Judy.

"Just a pretty good day I suppose." Judy's entire face was just, god, pure joy. 

"What about yours?"

"I had a really good day."

"It's about to get better." Jen opened her bag to give Judy the blanket she so missed.

"Oh?" Judy's eyes widened when Jen pulled out the baby blanket. "Jen!"

"It was nothing, I just had to give him a bit of a hard time and he cracked." Jen was trying to play it off as something she just did, helped out pretty women, all day long. In reality she couldnt even remember the last time she had done something nice for someone that wasnt her sons or Judy.

"This is like, the most anyone has ever done for me." Judy was starting to tear up and Jen was panicking now. Should she comfort her? Wrap her arms around the other woman? Because there were people around and that wouldn't really seem very appropriate would it?

"Hey. Hey... I.... shhhh. Don't cry please." Jen was pleading more for her discomfort than anything else. "It was nothing, really. Scaring the shit out of someones garbage ex? Dream gig." 

Jen reached out now, intending to go for a comforting arm touch but Judy leaped into her arms as soon as she made a movement. And Jen definitely didn't mind it, so she chose to ignore, once again but this time intentionally, their surroundings, and just concentrate on Judy. Her body pressed tightly against Jen's, her arms around Jen's waist, and her wet face buried in the crook of Jen's neck. It was a sensation she didn't want to forget. And she Definitely was not a hug person, apart from Henry and occasionally Charlie but that was just mandatory for a good mom to love a hug from her kids. 

They were like this for god knows how long, (not long enough in Jen's opinion) and finally Judy started letting go just a bit. She moved her head a bit higher up, and Jen could feel Judy's breath against her ear. She didn't even want to consider for a moment how her body was reacting to that sensation. 

"I have a favor to ask you." Judy whispered and Jen could somehow both feel and hear the apologeticness, which was confirmed when Judy pulled away enough to face Jen.

"Oh? Another one? You just using me for my scary bitch image?” Jen joked.

"No no! It's nothing like the Steve thing it's just-"

"Totally kidding. Go on." Jen chimed in to stop the rambling.

"I was wondering if you would like to come on this school trip to watch the kids. I'm going too, and we need volunteers so I was hoping to get you to join. It could be really fun, and I'd rather have you there than any of the other parents." Judy was practically begging.

"Stop lying to me about how fun it is." Jen groaned. " I already said yes so you can be real with me." She was faking light annoyance but couldn't help but smile when she saw Judy's excited jumping.

"I'm not lying! And you said yes?"

"Some teacher asked and I said I would come. You know how much I love the thought of being in charge of cranky teenagers in museums." Jen joked, not caring to mention how much she loved the thought of spending a day with Judy, which definitely weighed more on her decision.

"That's such good news!" Judy was back in Jen's arms and the blonde was definitely not complaining. Maybe doing some nice shit here and there really paid off. "I'm so excited to go on this trip with you. And the kids of course, they are all such talented artists, they're gonna love this adventure." Judy was so happy Jen couldn't bring herself to say anything sarcastic, which seemed to be a common problem nowadays.

"I'm sure it's gonna be great." Jen smiled at her, still unconvinced that a 20 something teenagers, a few teachers and a very angry widow could make the best of a museum trip. 

"Mom! Are you coming or not?" Jen heard Henry's impatient voice coming from the doorway.

"I'm coming alright!" Jen yelled, not taking her eyes away from Judy who was looking at her warmly and laughing. Jen leaned in to say something witty and funny as her goodbye, but couldn't find the words and wasn't quite thinking straight so she leaned in to kiss Judy's cheek instead. God who was she? It was only a peck but her entire face was probably red when she pulled away. Jen groaned mentally as soon as she had said a quick bye and turned around. She didn't look back, not wanting to even consider how Judy was looking at her right now. But it could be a funny inside joke right? She really had to get laid.


	11. Hopefully

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm literally so sorry I'm so late !! I've had so much work. But the good news is that i have a long weekend bcs of midsummer's day, so I'm gonna have friday saturday and sunday off instead of just sunday. That means more time to write hopefully.
> 
> So heres a shorter one for you guys, next one will be out probably friday :-)

The museum trip was going to be over a weekend it turned out, so Jen made sure to call Lorna early this time to make sure she could take the boys. It went down significantly better when it wasnt Charlie calling her the day before to take them in because mom was in the middle of some gay shit. Jen briefly mentioned it was a school related thing, but tried to keep it vague, so that maybe Judy wouldn't come up in conversation.

"So is that teacher of Henry's coming?"

"Which one? He has so many I can't keep count." Jen chuckled, fully ready to hang up if Lorna would start bitching again.

"The one you had dinner with Jennifer." Lorna said, fed up with Jen's miserable attempts at avoiding honesty.

"Oh. Her. I mean it's an art trip so... yes." Jen said the last word as qquietly as she could manage, already aware that the tone of her voice alone had just revealed to Lorna that this information wasn't something Jen had wanted her to know.

"Mmm. I see."

"You'll take the boys?" Jen tried to rush to the end of this phone call as quickly as humainly possible.

"Of course I will. They are my grandsons." Lorna seemed almost offended at the question. "I hope you'll behave for your children's sake."

"I don't know what the fuck that's supposed to mean and I don't think I want to. Bye Lorna." Jen hung up. The worst was over now. Hopefully.

*

Jen told Henry and Charlie at dinner the same night. How do you really do say "I'm doing something I absolutely hate doing, all for one woman" without sounding like there's feelings involved?

"Hey guys?" Jen cursed her fake chipper voice that was immediately creating a weird start for this conversation.

"Yeah?" Henry mumbled with a mouth full of pasta.

"What would you say about a weekend at grandmas in a few weeks?"

"No thanks." Charlie rejected the idea immediately. It's not that he really minded it that much, he just would've rather been an unsuccessful gamer at home where no one expected anything of him.

"It's the kind of question where I'm not asking, I'm telling you you're going."

“What the fuck mom?” Henry gasped at the curse and before he could open his mouth to say something, Jen jumped on it.

“Charlie! What was that?”

“Oh I said what the Fuck mom?” Charlie said, now pronouncing fuck as clearly as he could just to annoy his mom. Henry sat still, waiting for the explosion. “You can’t just decide for me. What if I had something important then?”

“Do you?”

“I could have!”

“Please Charlie, just go to your grandmas. Just two days, you can reschedule if you had something.”

“Are you seeing Judy?” Henry got excited as soon as it was out of his mouth.

“I-I’m going on a school trip, honey. They really needed parents there so I volunteered to help out. That’s all.”

“So you’re going out of town with Judy?” Charlie raised his eye brows and made his mom speechless for just a second, as Jen had really hoped this situation would have been handled for good already.

“Judy will be there. But she will be teaching.”

“Surely you have some free time too.” Charlie replied, not breaking eye contact with his mother who was clearly getting flustered with the conversation.

“Maybe. But there’s other teachers there too, it’s not a vacation, it’s work.” Jen pointed out, trying to desperately make the trip sound like some official business and not the fun time Judy had promised, that had her nervously awaiting for the weekend.

“Ok.” Charlie just said, looking smug but not elaborating on the subject which almost made Jen feel worse than if he had just called her out on her bullshit.

“Okay then. That’s that.” Jen nodded, not really feeling like the conversation had gone down well. To be fair it was hard for a conversation to end in success when she was lying most of it.

*

The next few weeks went by quickly. Whenever Judy and Jen would meet and catch up at the school, Judy would be excitedly sharing her ideas and hopes for the museum visits and lessons, and Jen would politely nod along, just appreciating the other woman and how passionate she was. Henry didn’t bring up the trip again to Jen, but he did mention to Judy that he would have wanted to go too, which wasn’t sadly possible because it was for slightly older kids. Charlie didn’t say anything to Jen’s face, but since it seemed to make her clearly flustered, he would occasionally tease Jen lightly about the trip. Everything seemed to be relatively alright, there were no expectations. Except for Jen, who was struggling to not have expectations. She kept going through all the scenarios of how this could go down and nothing seemed to be a preferable option, which was making her nervous.

*

When it was finally the Friday, the day of the trip, Jen was barely surviving through her work day, nervously going through her papers under Lorna’s close watch. She was expecting the other woman to confront her about something, perhaps ask her about Judy, but Lorna didn’t bring the trip up until the very end of Jen’s work day.

“I’ll pick up the boys in an hour. I hope your time will be worth the hustle.”

“No fucking hustle Lorna. Just volunteering. God I’m just trying to be a good person for once.” Jen groaned and Lorna’s suggestive tone.

“That’s why I’m worried. Not very you to volunteer.” Lorna pointed out. “I just hope this woman isn’t replacing my sweet Ted just yet. I don’t think that would go down well at family gatherings.”

“I don’t go to family gatherings. And no ones replacing Ted. He is the boys dad and he will always be that to them.” Jen’s voice softened a bit more than she would’ve wanted, and she wondered if this was Judy’s influence too. Feeling bad for Lorna? Boohoo.

“Yes but there will be gossip. And I don’t care to be a part of it and neither would Ted.”

“Who cares about my romantic life enough to gossip about it? I’m a fucking 50 year old widow, I think I’ll take what I can get and I don’t give a fuck what people say.”

“So you’re…?”

“No!” Jen almost started panicking before picking up the conversation again. “ I’m just saying that who I’m dating does not concern you, or any of Ted’s friends or relatives. I understand that you’re invested in …well provably more the boys lives than mine, but I’m not Ted’s widow, I’m me. So you can tell everyone to shut the fuck up and let me live my life.”

“Very well.”

Jen was about to leave but turned back to Lorna for one last time.

“Please come around 14, Judy is picking me up at 14:30.”

“Sure.” Lorna just stared blankly at her, clearly having something to say, perhaps an objection, but Jen just left her be. All this was going to be worth it soon. Hopefully.


	12. It's rotten work

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thinking about how its rotten work :0

When Jen left to go pick up the boys (Charlie got to leave early under these special circumstances) she was almost giddy. Spending an entire weekend with Judy and just getting to talk and enjoy her company? Sounds like a vacation. Then again there were cranky teenagers they needed to look after, Jen had to remind herself, so she and Judy couldn't be acting like ones just because they had time to themselves. Not that Judy has even directly expressed that she was interested in Jen. The blonde was starting to spiral as she pulled outside Henry's school. She could see Judy and Henry chatting outside, waiting for her, so she made her way over to them. 

"Hey mom!" Henry was as enthusiastic as ever. 

"Hi Hen." Jen booped her sons nose before turning to look at Judy, who was very endeared by the interaction. "Hi, you." 

"You ready to see some art?" 

"Do you think it's too late to cancel?" Jen teased the brunette, earning a little slap on her arm. "Kidding! I'm kidding!" 

"I'm really happy you're coming." Judy just looked at Jen adoringly and the older woman felt like puking. Not because of Judy's warm gaze but the reaction it was causing in her. The butterflies in her stomach and the blush on her face. 

"Yeah." Was all that Jen could manage to get out of her mouth, not really wanting to say more, in fear of coming of so tender and kind that her image would be gone forever at school if someone but Judy were to hear her. "Well... we should get going." Jen took Henry's hand in hers. " Lorna is gonna come get the boys soon and I still got get them ready." 

"Good luck." Judy wished her, knowing from stories that Lorna could be kind of a hardass. "I'll pick you up before 3pm." There was this awkward moment between the two women, both of their eyes lingering on each others faces for perhaps too long, and Jen was certain that Judy was thinking about the fact that the last time they departed, Jen had kissed her cheek, which wasn't impossible for friends to pull off but it also wasn't them. Not yet at least. 

" I'll see you soon." Jen said, quietly and with peace she didn't know she had within her, before quickly pulling herself away from the haze she was in and turning around to go home. 

Once the whole gang was home and somewhat ready, they sat down in the kitchen to wait for Lorna, who should arrive any minute now. 

"I hope you guys have fun this weekend." Charlie said without an ounce of smugness or a teasing tone, just seemingly earnestly wanting his mother to have a good time. 

"I'm sure we will." Jen replied, smiling, slightly nervous about what was to come, but also simultaneously as happy as she could be. 

"Will you call and tell us about what you guys saw at the museums?" Henry asked, clearly wishing to come along with them. 

"Of course honey. I can take pictures too." 

"You take shitty pictures. They always shake." Charlie commented. 

"Excuse me?" 

"Literally every picture you've taken of us looks like there was an earth quake." 

"Yeah the earth quake was you two rascals unable to stay still for even a second." 

"Dad’s pictures aren’t shaky." 

"Mmm well.. maybe I could learn photography. I'm sure Judy could teach me, she probably knows how to take good pictures as an artist and all." Jen was pretty convinced that there was nothing Judy couldn’t do by now. 

"Or she could just take the pictures." Charlie said, not really believing his mother could be turned into a photography mastermind overnight. 

"Yeah or that." Jen was nodding now, accepting defeat. 

The door bell rang followed by a graceful knock. 

"Shit! You guys all packed? Everything's ready?" 

"Yeah mom. We are good to go." Charlie assured her. 

"Okay. Good good." Jen repeated to herself as she took a few long strides to the front door. She took a deep breath and let the devil in. 

"I hope the boys are ready." Was the first thing that came out of Lorna's mouth once she was face to face with Jen. 

"No hello?" Jen just replied, stepping aside so that the boys could run past her. 

"We are ready to go grandma!" Henry exclaimed as he hopped his way to the car. 

"That's good sweetie." Lorna glanced back at the boy before bringing her intensely judgmental gaze onto Jen once more. Jen just stood there as stern as she could, waiting for Lorna to either say something or leave. The older woman chose the latter and followed the boys to the car, only turning around briefly to say good bye and give Jen lazy wave. 

When Jen was finally all alone, she couldn't stop pacing around thinking about Judy. Thinking about driving over to the school with Judy. The bus journey with Judy. The hotel they would stay at, though the adults were spread into several rooms to look over the teens, probably better that way. Jen was just happy to get a chance to talk in peace and get to know Judy more. There really must be some time off right? Cause she was going to need a drink after today. 

Despite stalking the front yard intently, she didn't notice Judy's car, due to her daydreaming session involving the woman. When doorbell rang and brought her back to reality, she was not only nervous but also flustered which in turn made her both annoyed and angry, so in the end, for the untrained eye she looked pretty much the same as always. 

Judy was wearing a bright floral dress and she looked breathtaking like always, and for a second Jen forgot, with the dress and Judy coming to pick her up and all, that this wasn't a date and Judy was here because of her job. 

Jen must have been quiet and just admiring the woman in front of her for a bit too long because Judy felt the need to clear her throat to catch her attention. 

"Hi." Judy's smile widened as soon as she caught Jen's eyes. "Something on your mind?" 

"No. Nothing." Jen replied quickly. 

Judy didn't seem to believe her, and the brunette raised her eyebrow inquisitively but didn't have the time to call Jen out on her lie, before Jen was already explaining herself. Not lying, just distracting Judy. 

"You know, I'm just nervous." 

"Why are you nervous?" 

"It's been a while since I've been around this many teenagers. In fact I think the last time was when I was a fucking teenager. And looking at Charlie I'm not sure I have a good grasp on what that's like." Jen said, gathering her bags together to carry into the car. 

"Well you've done a very good job on Charlie, I think." Jen rolled her eyes at the woman’s positivity, of course she would think that even when Charlie was probably on his way to jail right now. "And no one is asking you to be a teenager, just be a reliable, responsible figure that they can look up to and lean on." 

"Geez. I don't know if I'm about that." 

"I think you are. You're too hard on yourself. I think the kids will think you're so cool." Judy assured Jen calmly, both of them finally getting in the car. 

"Cool huh?" Jen laughed at that. She had never been cool in her life. Maybe in high school for a beat. 

"Yeah! Why are you laughing? I think you're so cool!" 

"Yeah, no shit, you would think I'm cool. But I don't think I have what the kids consider "cool"." 

"That's a shame, because few glasses of wine and you're a fucking blast." 

"Not sober though?" Jen teased the brunette. "I'm an absolute drag when I'm sober." 

"No. I think I like you even better when you're sober." Judy was giggling a little at Jen's jokey tone when going through the array of compliments that was about to hit the blonde. "You're so sweet... and very very funny, you always make me laugh and on top of that you're so cute too! What's there not to love?" Judy started the car, glancing away from Jen for a moment, not being able to register the flustered mess that was now sitting next to her. Jen found herself surprised, still to this day, after them having been friends for a bit now, that when Judy said something, it was always so earnest Jen couldn't quite take it in fully. She always found herself dissecting compliments, turning them into something shitty instead so that she could hate herself over it later, but Judy was just so purely kind and earnest when she said nice things to Jen, that the blonde couldn't do anything but accept that she had someone who cared for her. Maybe that was Judy's evil plan, give Jen no choice but to accept love into her life. Yuck. 

"I doubt many would describe me as cute and sweet." Jen just muttered, not knowing what else to say. 

"Well you're pretty intimidating." Judy pointed out. 

"Yeah. I found a people repellent and it's saying fuck very loudly and repeatedly to a person's face." 

Judy giggled for a bit at the seriousness of Jen's voice. 

"I think that might be the issue." 

"Not for you, though." Jen said not really catching the weight of the words before it was alresdy out there. She was glued looking at the road ahead of them, but she could see from the corner of her eye the quick movement of Judy's hair as the brunette turned to look at her. 

"Not for me, no." Judy replied softly and Jen was all butterflies and a slight headache, topped with a need to just fling herself onto Judy's lap and kiss her with all that she had. Jen shook her head furiously as if to get the thought to come out, leave permanently, but when she settled to look out the window, her mind kept wandering to the idea of kissing Judy. After a few moments of silence the brunette turned on the radio (maybe sensing some awkwardness, Jen hoped not) and finally Jen's thoughts were drowned by Judy singing Mamma Mia very obnoxiously for her entertainment. Jen laughed, and it went without saying, that she had never had anything like this with Ted. Something tender and joyful. Something honest, real.


	13. So many maybes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hewwo

Once the pair arrived at school, most of the teachers and some of the kids were already outside waiting for the bus to come. Jen was feeling out of place midst all this, but Judy caught her worried look, and squeezed her hand assuringly. Jen gave her a smile, hoping it would convey her gratefulness for having the other woman there with her. 

There were three teachers coming on this trip along with Judy and Jen and one parent had also been roped in. She seemed like a regular at these types of events, conversing with the teacher’s enthusiastically about the upcoming trip. Once she noticed Judy approaching the group, she waved at her with a bright smile. Jen was already annoyed and hated everyone here. 

“Hey Judy!” The woman yelled out with a voice so annoying that Jen was mockingly repeating it in her head. 

“Hi Laura, so good to see you here. I’m sorry if we are a bit late, it was totally my fault.” Judy apologized, letting Jen off the hook immediately. 

“No not at all! We were just early. We are still waiting for the bus, so there’s no need to worry.” Laura waved her off and motioned her to join the circle that the teacher’s had formed, where they were going over some plans for the first afternoon. Judy reached out her hand to take Jen with her but Jen just shook her head and looked around for a place where she could wait in peace and not have to deal with these people. 

“You go, I’ll go over there and call Lorna to make sure the boys are doing alright.” 

“Oh. You do that.” Judy smiled adoringly at Jen’s gesture, which Jen knew even without looking at the woman. 

When the bus finally arrived, the teachers gathered all the kids together and paired them up before assigning them their seats. Once they were all inside, Judy came to get Jen, who was passively standing near the bus, watching teachers make their way inside as well, along with Laura. 

“Come on, you’re sitting next to me.” Judy grabbed Jen’s hand enthusiastically and lead the other woman into the bus. 

“What are we fifth graders?” Jen teased her, fully aware that she was just trying to distract herself from Judy’s hand in hers. 

The journey was a few hours long, and Judy spent most of it chatting with the other teachers and Laura, occasionally also conversing with the kids, but the last 20 minutes or so, she spent asleep, head on Jen’s shoulder, which the blonde was painfully aware of, and desperately struggling to move as little as she could, just to avoid waking up the other woman. She kept glancing at Judy’s peacefully beautiful face and would occasionally adjust the hair that wouldn’t stay behind her ear, where it was tucked. Maybe it was just an excuse for her to touch Judy’s cheek softly, but it wasn’t the worst lie in the world. Whenever the other teachers or Laura, would catch her watching Judy, with just a bit too much love in her expression, she would awkwardly turn back to the window, but couldn’t really look away for too long. 

Judy woke up, when she heard the driver announce that they were finally at their destination. She sleepily raised her head from Jen’s shoulder, and apologized profusely for slobbering on her for the past 20 minutes. Jen obviously couldn’t care less, because it wasn’t just anyone, it was Judy, but she joked about killing the other woman in her sleep or something along those lines, and avoided looking like she was absolutely whipped. Judy just giggled, as she probably knew that Jen was just feeling uncomfortable amongst these people and therefore trying ridiculously hard to seem like she was still a bitch, even on a school trip. 

They were staying at a fairly cheap hotel, that didn’t really seem that bad, at least in Jen’s opinion. But then again Ted had never taken her anywhere and she worked all year round so there wasn’t much in recent memory to compare it to. Nevertheless, she was pleased. One of the teachers went to fetch them their keys, whilst the others waited patiently in the lobby. Jen was really hoping that there would be a problem with the payment or any issue that would delay the arrival of the keys, because Judy was almost sitting on her lap right now and she needed at least an hour more of this. She herself was sat on a small couch, next to two other teachers, and because there was barely any space, Judy was sat on the hand rest, that was small enough that Judy was more on Jen’s lap than the couch itself. And as if that wasn’t enough, Judy was holding firmly onto Jen’s arm wrapped around Judy’s waist to keep her from falling. No one batted an eye at this, which Jen thought confirmed her assumption that Judy was juts touchy with everyone and therefore it wasn’t a big deal. 

The teacher sadly, didn’t take her time with the keys, but came rushing back shortly after they had sat down. 

“We have 5 rooms booked, but sadly 3 of our students cancelled fairly last minute, so we now have less people here than expected. I’ve decided that Maureen, Harry and I, will each stay in a room with 4 kids, and Laura can take a room with her sons, and two other students, like she previously requested. There’s really no need for more than one adult per four kids.” She explained her reasoning before turning to Judy and Jen. “So unless you have anything against it, I’ve put you two in a room together? I couldn’t sadly change the number of rooms we reserved but I could request a room for two instead, so I think this might be our best bet.” 

“Of course! Cancellations always create so much additional drama. Not that they don’t have their reasons for cancelling!” Judy pointed out before turning to Jen with a smile. “We can absolutely take a room for the two of us right Jen?” 

“Yeah. Sure. Whatever’s good with me.” Jen got out, just barely. A million thoughts were going through her head right now, and she didn’t know whether she was overjoyed and afraid for her life at the thought of Judy and her sharing a room for a weekend. She decided to not think about it all together, despite it being late enough already that in a few hours everyone was going to retreat into their room, and her room was going to be the one she shared with Judy. 

Everyone gathered their bags and the teachers took the supplies they had prepared for possible lessons, and they went all into their rooms to unpack before some art related thing Judy and another teacher were going to do, Jen wasn’t really on top of this stuff. 

Jen and Judy’s room was small but cozy. There were two beds, thank fucking god, a tv, a bathroom and a desk where Judy announced she was going to spend the next 2 nights working like a dog. Judy soon left Jen alone in their room to go prepare for the first lesson of the trip, and Jen laid down on the bed to consider whether she was a fucking idiot for agreeing to go on this trip or maybe it was a smart move in the end. It all kind of depended on what she wanted out of this, and she was pretty sure that she wasn’t quite ready to deal with those needs and desires yet, so maybe this trip would turn out to be a waste of a great opportunity. Or maybe it was better to not do anything rash until she could say for certain that Judy was into her, because she still couldn’t quite read the other woman. So many maybes. Having a crush is the worst, it turns out. 

Jen fell asleep, and woke up to Judy coming back a few hours later. She had probably gone out for a drink with the teachers, because surely the lesson hadn’t taken this long. She was laughing at the door, at something Laura said. Jen could recognize the annoying voice. What a shitty way to wake up. When Laura finally took the hint and left, Judy turned around to see Jen, still in bed, sleepily looking at her. 

“You’ve been napping?” 

“Yeah I’m fucking exhausted.” Jen yawned. 

“It feels like this day has gone on forever.” Judy said and Jen definitely agreed with that, it had been a stressful day. “You mind if I take a shower? I think I’d like to just go to bed, unless you want to go down to the bar first, there’s some pretty good wines there, I checked?” 

“A woman after my own heart.” Jen said, slightly hoping that she would come of as kind of sexy but her voice was rough with sleep and not in a hot way, which made Judy laugh at least, and that sound was making even bad jokes worth the risk. “I’m pretty sure I can’t even walk to to the elevator so go ahead and shower.” 

Once Judy was in the shower, Jen was working hard to not think about Judy being in the shower, and it was a pretty good success. At first she was really concentrating on some bad reality tv show, which wasn’t going well, until she switched the channel to Facts of life which was definitely a hit she could get behind. She didn’t even notice the shower noise had quieted down and was caught by surprise when Judy emerged from the bathroom. She had changed already thank god, but she looked so cute in her little shorts and a t shirt that Jen was considering for a moment that maybe Judy just looked good in everything. Her hair was still a bit wet and it was just adding to the look. 

“Oh you’re watching Facts of life? I fucking love that show!” Judy jumped onto Jen’s bed, instead of her own, and when Jen wasn’t complaining (because fuck it was Judy in her bed why would she complain) she made herself comfortable next to Jen. 

They talked for an hour before bed, mostly about Facts of life, which kept the conversation light, instead of bringing up Jen’s dead asshole husband or Judy’s ex that left her after five miscarriages. Life felt bright for a moment, they were happy and just laughing without a care in the world. Judy fell back into Jen’s pillow, from laughing so hard at something stupid the blonde had said, and looking at the scene in front of her, or rather next to her, Jen couldn’t help but decide then and there that there was no maybes, of course this had been the right choice, there was no way she could have said no when Judy had wanted her to come, and for moments like this, she would suffer through a day of dreadful conversations with teachers that despised her. Jen, deep in thought, wasn’t quite registering Judy in front of her, who brought her arm to caress Jen’s cheek, only to boop her nose at the last minute, which made the brunette erupt into a loud giggle as soon as she saw Jen’s annoyed face. Jen joined the laughter after a few beats, and after they had both calmed down a bit, Judy hugged Jen tightly (which was a bit too much for Jen), before going to her own bed, that was right next to Jen’s. They said good night, and with that they drifted to sleep.


	14. Wrong move

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyyy :))) i literally dont know what school trips are like bcs ive never been on one but like lets just assume its kinda more like these people are in an after school club or something special right? cause our schools latin class did go to rome so thats similar i guess just chilling

Saturday was really the main event. Jen tagged along with the group to some art museums, trying her best to take pictures for Henry along the way, and even filming some of Judy's lectures, knowing Henry would appreciate it. Whenever another teacher was talking (there was also a history and an english teacher present) Judy would be by Jen's side, giving her a private tour of the museums. Jen didn't really know anything about art or care about it much for that matter, but Judy was so happy and in her element that Jen made sure to listen intently to everything she said and ask questions, which Judy seemed to love.

They went to three museums all together on saturday, all of them combining history and art. After the first two museums, was lunch time, and despite the hardship of picking a restaurant that more than three kids wanted to eat at, they finally found a place that seemed to be fine with everyone. It was just a simple pasta place with some varied options on other meals as well. The teens were given freedom to sit with whomever they wanted as long as they didn't go too far, and this meant some "time off" (not really because they still had to watch after the students) for the adults. 

Judy and Jen took a table a bit farther away from the other teachers, for just the two of them, which Jen analyzed for a second and feared it might make it seem like there was something going on between the two of them. Realistically the teachers probably just thought they were friends, but Jen couldn't help but overthink every move she made and assume everyone could see how head over heels she was when it came to Judy.

"How's your day been by far?" Judy asked Jen whilst they were waiting for food.

"Pretty good. Love learning about art." Jen said somewhat sarcastically.

"Oh you've learned something?" Judy teased her back. "I didn't even know you ever listening."

"I was! I know all about impressionism now."

"You do? I'm impressed." Judy dragged out the word impressed looking for a pun but couldn't come up with anything. Jen rolled her eyes before letting out a small laugh.

"Yeah. Can't help it when I have a teacher this good." 

"You flirting with me to get a better grade? Because it's working and I can see an A coming your way." 

Jen almost choked on her water at that, not sure whether she had intended to flirt as openly as she did.

"I'm joking." Judy laughed at Jen's reaction. " You're my best student. Can't improve perfection now can I?"

"I am pretty good at arts and crafts, Henry has said so several times." 

"Oh, I believe it." Judy was nodding now, trying to keep a serious expression but failing once again and bursting into loud laughter that made the teachers and the kids turn to them. Judy gave them an apologetic look before turning back to Jen who was feeling uncomfortable about the attention but also amused.

The rest of their lunching they made a special effort to keep the volume down, and talked casually about what was still to come that day. The last museum visit, and the lessons attached to it, went by fairly quickly and nothing too horrible happened despite the chaotic thought of traveling with a bunch of teenagers to see expensive art at hugely renowned museums.

After the museum, the teens had some time off which also meant the teachers could wander around for a bit. Judy had the rest of the day off, as the last lessons were not taught by her, which meant Judy and Jen would only have to show up for dinner, which wasn't really mandatory for them.

Once the two were in their room, Jen was already ordering in a few bottles of wine, announcing that she could no longer wait to get a bit tipsy, and that without responsibilities, they deserved a little bit of fun. Judy agreed with this and soon enough they were sat again on Jen's bed, drinking wine and laughing. 

"I'm having such a good time but I gotta admit I kind of miss my boys." Jen laid back a bit, and not realizing the wall was right behind, her she let her head hit it with a thump. "Ah shit!" She yelled out, and on that instant Judy was on her knees next to Jen and her hands were gently caressing the blonde's face before she moved one of them to feel the back of Jen's head.

"You alright? Should we get ice?" Judy was clearly worried which Jen found adorable. 

"God no. It's fine. I was just surprised that's all. I'm all good." Jen was looking up at Judy, drunk enough to not care if her expression was giving away how much exactly she appreciated the soft touches and the worry.

"Okay." Judy said softly with a small nod, letting her eyes meet Jen's. Shit, Jen thought. Fuck. 

And then there was a fucking knock at their door. The dinner.

Judy clumsily got up from the bed and made her way to the door, taking a few deep breaths before opening the door, to see Laura.

"Hey. I just came to see if you guys wanted to come down for dinner." 

"Oh god. We forgot all about dinner. I think we are going to just stay in tonight." Judy looked back to Jen who was still sitting in bed and now nodding in agreement. Obviously they weren't going anywhere hammered. Judy's smile was tight and Jen could see Laura was trying to read into this situation way too much, which made the blonde feel the need to correct the possible misunderstanding that was about to come. But before she could, Laura spoke again.

"I totally understand. You guys should just have a bit of time to yourselves. I mean you really do most of the work on the lessons so we owe you this." Laura said and probably already expecting Judy to fight her on that last sentence, she immediately followed it with a good night, and waving Jen good bye as well before leaving.

Judy closed the door and came back to bed, Jen's bed. They both leaned back against the headboard and the wall.

"I'm sure Henry and Charlie miss you too." Judy said, turning to look at Jen who was now farther away from her than earlier, making the conversation feel more normal and less like they were about to fuck.

"Yeah. I mean they are fine at Lorna's. We just aren't apart that much."

"Lorna must have been happy to have them over."

"Yeah she was." Jen looked down at her hands on her lap. " She wasn't too happy about this whole trip though." 

"Why not?" Judy was confused.

"She thinks we are dating." Jen said, trying to punctuate the sentence with a laugh, but it just made it more clear that she was extremely uncomfortable.

"Oh." Judy just let out. Just an oh. Nothing else, which made Jen even more nervous so she started babbling.

"I mean it's because of Henry, you know. He somehow hinted that we were together I guess. So now she doesn't believe me no matter what I say.” Jen was explaining, finally daring to quickly glance at Judy for a reaction. Her face was unreadable.

"Does she usually get all up in your business about dating?" Judy just asked, taking a sip of her wine.

"I mean... I haven't really done much dating after Ted." Judy turned to look at her, intrigued, and Jen corrected herself. "Any dating. No dating for me."

"Why not?" 

"I don't know." Jen just said automatically, not even considering the options. "I guess I have baggage. I don't really want to bring other people into this chaos."

"Do you mean like Ted baggage?"

"I guess Ted baggage and me baggage." Jen said, and when she looked to her right, all she saw was support and kindness and understanding in Judy's eyes and so she continued. "Our marriage wasn't particularly dreamy. We had some issues and I don't even know if Ted fucking liked me the last few years. I was kind of a bitch probably." Judy didn't say anything, but she brought her arm around Jen's waist before settling next to her to listen. "And I had a mastectomy, which didn't really help with our problems because I was feeling insecure and just... not good enough. And he was proving me right by avoiding me. I think he despised me for it. Maybe he thought I did it just to punish him or something. So the fucking idiot cheated on me."

"How could he-" Judy seemed furious which Jen appreciated since everyone she knew seemed to side with Ted on everything.

"Well, I didn't have cancer. But my mom died from it when I was younger and I didn't want to take that risk. I didn't want Charlie and Henry to lose a parent." Jen was tearing up and Judy was still holding onto her tightly. Jen turned a bit towards Judy to hold onto the other woman.

"You deserve someone who loves you and respects you and treats you right." Judy said into Jen's shoulder quietly after a moment of silence. " Ted was a fucking asshole for not appreciating what an amazing woman he had. I know I shouldn't speak ill of the dead but fuck him." Judy pulled away slightly to see Jen's face.

Jen laughed a bit, still teary eyed.

"Yeah fuck him."

“I guess we have kind of just the fucking worst taste in men huh?" Judy laughed, bringing her hand to wipe tears of Jen's cheeks.

"Yeah. We really do." Jen said, just closing her eyes and taking in Judy's gentle touches bouncing from one cheek to the other as she wiped Jen's cheeks tearless. When Jen opened her eyes, the tender moment from before was back and there was tension in the air, but Jen found herself too in her own head to just kiss Judy so she grabbed her face gently and pressed a kiss to her cheek. It was a longer one this time and clearly purposeful, so it carried more meaning, and even Judy should have picked up on the subtext in the room. When Jen pulled away, she was too quick for her own good to start saying good night, because she could have sworn that Judy was looking at her lips. Judy started slowly getting up and said good night to Jen before going to the bathroom and leaving Jen in her bed. Jen could just ask Judy out on a date or something, surely that would be a bit more normal and just better under the circumstances they were in. Jen was definitely happy that she chose to not kiss Judy just then. She was pleased with her decision. It was the right move. For sure.


	15. Rumour has it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :-)

In the morning, Jen woke up to Judy’s alarm that the brunette had set for 5 fucking am. She just laid in bed, angry, annoyed and most of all disappointed, mainly with herself, over what had went down the night before. Judy seemed chipper as always and took a shower as soon as she woke up. Jen didn’t even move, wishing she could still sleep for a few hours instead of overthinking the constant suggestive dialogue between the two women.

Once the women had gotten themselves looking presentable, the other teachers and Laura joined them in their room to discuss the last lesson plans for the day. Since saturday night had been off for both Judy and Jen, sunday was mainly Judy’s lessons, with Jen and Laura assisting her. There were no more museums visits but a few photography exercises and some group discussion about art history instead. Once then plan for the day was clear for Jen and Laura as well, Judy and Jen were left once again into their room, before breakfast.

“This has been such a success, that I almost don’t want to leave.” Judy said, as she already packed up some of her clothes so that they wouldn’t have to be in a hurry later.

“Yeah well, based on what I’ve heard it’s mostly thanks to you. You’ve done a great job.” Jen complimented her, not looking up from her own clothing pile that she was sorting.

“You think so?”

“Abso-fucking-lutely!” She said with faked enthusiasm that earned her the first laugh of the day from Judy.

After breakfast, Judy, Jen and Laura, went to a park with the students, to all write down some answers to questions relating to art history, that they had apparently learned on saturday. Jen definitely didn’t know about that because most if the information she had heard had gone over her head but Judy gracefully gave Laura and Jen some answer sheets that hopefully where going to help them out.

Whilst Judy was busy helping some student, Jen and Laura stood aside for a moment in comfortable silence, before Laura decided to speak much to Jen’s annoyance.

“I was wondering, I’ve never seen you before at school, are you new to the area or-?”

“I’ve just not been very active, with school stuff. My husband took care of parent teacher meetings and things like that.” Jen said, feeling almost ashamed admitting it.

“Ah.. a working mom. I admire that.” Laura was nodding, understanding the situation surprisingly easily. “But you’ve started to come to the school more now I’ve noticed? I see you with Judy almost every day.”

Jen decided to ignore the second sentence, Judy and her meetings weren’t really her business.

“My husband died some time ago, so I’m trying to get more into this school thing. Support my sons and all that.”

“I’m sorry for your loss.” Jen felt annoyed again, somehow that sentence really made her angry. She had heard it just a few too many times in the past 8 months. Jen just nodded in thank you, not bothering to say anything else. “It can be hard to grieve alone, I hope you have someone.” Laura said, earnestly but it sounded pitiful. The first person, the only person Jen could think of was Judy. She had Judy.

“Judy has been a great help to me.” Jen said, turning to the group of students sitting on the grass, with Judy prancing around from student to student.

“I can see that. You guys seem close.” Laura said, and Jen didn’t like the tone of her voice. She really had something against this woman huh. “I absolutely fell in love with Judy since her first day here, she’s such a wonderful teacher and a kind caring person. I can understand what you see in her. And she speaks so highly of you.”

“She does?” Jen glanced away from Judy, who had caught her staring, and looked intently at the woman next to her instead.

“Yeah, she really cares for you.” Laura said, and was clearly about to continue on, but a familiar voice stopped her train of thought.

“Are you guys talking shit behind my back or something?” Jen looked up to see Judy walking towards them.

“Quite the opposite.” Laura just said and smiled at Jen, who was too distracted by Judy’s mere presence to concentrate on anyone else. Jen could feel a blush creeping in and she tried to desperately push it down, not certain if she had the will power to do such thing or not.

The rest of the lesson went by with ease, but Jen and Laura were both fairly busy trying to offer a helping hand to the kids, so there wasn’t much time to chat more about how Judy felt about Jen, which was very much driving Jen insane. When the photography lessons time came, and Judy had gotten the kids started with their exercises, she made her way to Jen, who was trying to work Ted’s old camera to take pictures of her own.

“Not good with the camera, Harding?” Judy teased Jen, coming up behind her to catch a quick glimpse of the scene that Jen was trying to capture. The sudden closeness made Jen jump momentarily, before she gathered herself together and joined in on the light conversation.

“Henry and Charlie definitely think so.”

Judy laughed at this and Jen offered her the camera, to take a look at some of her shots.

“I think you should just start with basic settings, and really concentrate on simple shots. A lot of it is in the editing too.” Judy said after going through some of her failed museum shots. "You can try it with me, take a few simple wide screen pictures and then you can try experimenting with the settings and zoom a bit. Right now take your time to get some clear shots okay?” Judy said and handed Jen the camera. Before Jen could say anything to disagree, Judy was standing a few feet (What is a foot really bro im not american) away from the blonde, pulling some silly poses, just to make Jen laugh a bit, and lighten up. She succeeded in her task.

Jen started to take pictures of Judy, some pretty generic ones, but somehow having Judy in them, made them art, Jen thought to herself. After some consistent clicking, Judy told her to zoom in and maybe try some other settings that the camera had, and Jen was doing her best to make her proud. She was simultaneously finding it easy and hard to concentrate when her model was Judy.

After a moment, Judy probably thought it might be best to go check on the students, so she walked over to Jen to take a look at her shots before getting back to her job. Jen awkwardly handed the camera to Judy, painfully aware that most of the pictures were the result of Jen just zoning in on Judy’s beautiful face and deciding that what she wanted on her camera roll was exclusively shots of Judy smiling and laughing. Judy seemed to think the pictures were good enough, and she handed the camera back to Jen with an uncharacteristically shy smile.

“Those where very pretty pictures.” Judy said, quietly to dumbfounded Jen, who was uncertain if she had just been outed as a fool for love.

“Thank you. It’s kind of easy when..” Jen started realizing, that if she was about to shoot a cheesy pick-up line Judy’s way right now, it would pretty much just be a huge neon sign pointing at her saying “this woman is absolutely head over heels in love with you”. “...it’s easy.. when I know how to finally use the settings. You are such a good teacher.” She just said, leaving Judy expecting something more, something else. It was pretty much the point in their relationship were, they had danced around this for so long that Jen just had to do something on monday. Ask her out on a date maybe?

“Thank you, Jen.” Judy gave Jen a warm smile. “ I need to go help out the students so...” She pointed towards a group of students that were trying to take a picture of a statue.

“Yeah go ahead!” Jen said with a smile. “I think I got the hang of this now.”

On the journey home it was Jen's turn to rest. She was trying to not lean on Judy's shoulder to avoid any awkwardness, but once she found herself drifting asleep comfortably against the other woman, she couldn't bother to get up since Judy didn't seem to mind her. Quite the opposite actually. The brunette pressed a kiss to Jen's forehead before getting back to the conversation she was having with the teachers. Jen spent most of the bus journey almost fully awake, just peacefully leaning on Judy and listening to her speak. She felt so happy and content like this, that all of a sudden the thought of not having Judy in her felt unimaginable. Somehow the woman had just become such a huge part of Jen's life and her wellbeing that without her, Jen was almost certain the place in her heart now filled with love would be empty and joyless. It felt new to her to fall like this, and made her fearful but happy. Just to be with Judy now like this felt worth it.

Once the bus was starting to be at the school and the chatter momentarily quieted down. Jen rose her head from Judy's shoulder to see the other woman looking at her warmly.

"Hey sleepyhead." Judy whispered into Jen's ear, unknowingly making the other woman squirm in her seat.

"Hi." Jen just said, openly letting her gaze fall to Judy's lips for a moment, testing it out. Judy's expression didn't change. If anything, her smile widened just a little.

"Judy are you staying with us to take the supplies back inside?" Interrupted a voice from behind them, a voice thats owner Jen now hated with burning rage, as she awkwardly looked away from Judy who was still glued to her, despite managing to reply to the other teacher.

"Yeah of course." She said, and from the corner of her eye Jen could see the brunettes eyes on her before she finally turned away and got up. Finally Jen noticed that everyone was hurrying out of the bus already and it was just them and a few kids in the back left.

Once Jen was home, Lorna and the boys were already waiting for her. Turns out that Jen had told Lorna the wrong time for their arrival so now she had a very annoyed mother in law to kick out.

"Honestly I'm so tired I don't want to fight.” Jen refused to even look at Lorna, she just lead her straight to the door. “I'm sorry. Thank you for taking the boys."

Lorna seemed to catch the extreme exhaustion in Jen’s eyes and calm down for a bit.

"Sure. Get some rest. You look dreadful." Lorna said at the door before turning to leave.

"Thanks, you too. Bye." Jen shut the door behind her. Finally she was home.

Jen decided to order some pizza since she was definitely not in the mood to cook and soon she was sat on the couch with Charlie and Henry, telling them about the trip. Henry seemed to be almost impressed with her pictures.

"Why is there so many pictures of Judy?" Henry asked, making Charlie lean over him, intrigued. Jen quickly took the camera from Henry and the boys were left looking at her confused.

"She was just teaching me how to take pictures and asked to be my model that's all."

"They are pretty good." Charlie smirked. " Should we put one on the wall, maybe above your bed or something?" Jen threw a pillow at him and heard the bright laughter of her son. She couldn’t help but smile at the sound.

"Shut up and eat your pizza."

When that night Jen went to tuck Henry in and tell him good night, Henry was sitting on the bed waiting for her, instead of under the covers.

"You still up? Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"Mmmm I just wanted to ask you something." Henry replied, looking very serious.

"Oh. What is it boop?" Jen walked up to him.

"Are you and Judy girlfriends now?" Henry asked so softly that Jen felt almost bad about saying no.

"I thought we had been over this."

"But you were on the trip together so I thought..." Henry paused to consider his words.

"What did you think honey?" Jen sat next to him on his bed, and started rubbing his back gently.

"I thought maybe Judy would have asked you out or something."

"Why would you think that?"

"Well..." Henry glanced up at his mom before looking at the floor for a moment. "She said that she likes you a lot. So I thought maybe she asked you out since you went on that trip together and all."

Jen's face was probably filled with pure shock. Her thoughts were a mess and she could barely get a word out. The sentence "Judy likes me a lot!" was taking up most of the space in her head.

"What are you talking about?" Jen spoke out barely coherently, just trying to sound calm.

"It was kind of a secret." Henry felt clearly upset for betraying Judy's trust. "You know when I skipped class?" Jen nodded. "Well I went to Judy and I talked about you and she said all these super nice things about you and then she said that she really really likes you and would like to go on a date with you but she doesn’t know if its a good time to do that because of dad. And I told her to ask you out. Because you really like her too right? Charlie said so." Henry was rambling now but Jen had stopped listening after hearing that Judy wanted to go on a date with her. Judy wanted to go out on a date with her and had said nothing.

"Yeah. Yeah, I do like her a lot." Jen said, turning to see Henry's lips curved into a smile.

"I like her too." He said happily.

"I know you do." Jen replied, still not fully present from the revelation of before. "You should go to bed. I think I forgot to go through some work stuff for tomorrow so I'll go check on that now okay?"

"Don't tell Judy I told you, okay?" Henry seemed worried Judy would be upset with him, which Jen knew she wouldn't be. Henry climbed under the covers.

"Of course not."

"But you'll talk to her?"

"Well we are seeing each other tomorrow morning." Jen walked to the door and turned the light switch off. "Don't worry about it, sweetie. Good night."

"Night, mom."

After Jen shut the door, she stood still for probably several minutes. She wasn't sure whether to scream or laugh or cry or jump. But she was happy. Overwhelmed but the good kind. The best kind. Judy liked her back. Judy liked her back !


	16. Do you mind if I spend all my days pining after you

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so this is basically a few flashbacks i wanted to include, each from judys pov. before each flashback theres the chapter it happened before during after whatever
> 
> im so sorry i left you guys hanging ill try to get to writing my next chapter asap 🥺🥺🥺

/// “Mind if I punch him?”///

“Thank you, Jen.” Judy gave Jen what she hoped to be an assuring smile to thank the woman for her help and the offer to take her home after this incident with Steve. But Judy knew she couldn't just leave her place of work for such a small reason with good conscience. She could see Jen fiddling her fingers nervously so Judy took Jen's hand in hers, perhaps pulling her unnecessarily close. " But the kids are so excited for today’s classes, I can’t just leave. I’m gonna be alright. You made me feel a lot better." Judy said, filled with warmth when noticing how much Jen cared.

Jen opened her mouth to say something, but quickly jumped away from Judy and turned around when she heard someone clearing her throat. It turned out to be Maureen, the english teacher, who was looking at the scene in front of her with confusion painted all over her face.

"Am I interrupting something?"

"No. Jen.. I mean Henry Harding’s mother, was just concerned about her son, so I was briefing her on how he was doing.” Judy lied smoothly, not needing everyone to know about her personal problems. Judy walked to the door to lead Jen out.

“Thank you, Ms Hale for everything you’ve done for Henry.” Jen played along and Judy smiled to her, her face hidden from Maureen.

“No need to thank me. It’s my job.” Judy replied, and mouthed a thank you to Jen before the blonde left. Judy turned to Maureen after Jen was out of site.

"Is there something going on?" Maureen asked in disbelief.

"What? Why would there be anything going on?" Judy felt nervous for some reason, like she had been caught doing something she shouldn't have.

"Well, Jennifer Harding isn't really known for being very involved with the teachers, I'm wondering why the sudden interest?"

"I mean her husbands passing might have something to do with it." Judy rationalized.

"Yet she hasn't spoken to any other teacher's about Henry's studies? Just you." Judy was not shocked about this reveal, as everyone in the teacher's lounge seemed to find Jen a bit off-putting, which Judy couldn't understand at all, because Jen was such a sweet considerate friend to her.

"We are friends. We've gotten to know each other in past few weeks."

"Well?"

"What?"

"You've gotten to know each other pretty well." Maureen clarified.

"What are you saying?" Judy was pretty sure she knew what was being insinuated. Maybe it was the hand holding, it would make sense to read into that a bit too much. And Judy had to admit that it perhaps wouldn't be out of question to rightfully read into her side of their moment, as Judy found herself thinking about the blonde perhaps a bit too much outside of their meetings. Jen was simply something else.

"Nothing in particular." Maureen took a pause and looked around the room for a moment before letting her eyes return to Judy, who was clearly nervous. " Just that she isn't typically very nice to anyone really. And you've managed to befriend her. I've seen her waiting by the entrance for the past week or so. It seems she just keeps coming back so you must be doing something right."

"Well...you know me." Judy gave Maureen an awkward smile not knowing what to think of the point she just made. "I like a challenge."

" I really feel like there's something you aren't telling me, and I think as the vice principal I would appreciate if you kept your personal relationships out of work alright? I'm happy you two have found each other but if you're meeting here it can't interfere with work. I've heard you've been late a few times this past week."

"I'm sorry. Of course I understand that, and it won't happen again."

"It's fine. But it wasn't actually why I'm here. I was wondering if we could go over the plans for the location for our museum weekend."

"Absolutely! Please sit down." Judy motioned to the chair she had been sitting on just moments ago.

/// “Just a dinner”///

Judy was just doing her lesson plan like she usually would when she had longer breaks between lessons, and all of a sudden she was interrupted by a knock.

"Yes?" She called out as she made her way to the class room door. Behind the door she found Jen's son Henry doing distraught. "Henry, are you alright?"

"I should be in math class." He just said.

"You should. Why are you here? Can I help you with something?" Judy asked.

"I just came to talk to you." Henry said quietly. He seemed to be feeling a bit shy, so Judy stepped aside to invite him into the classroom and motioned for him to sit down on one of the chairs, whilst she took a seat next to him.

"What did you want to talk about?"

"My mom." Henry said, looking up from the desk to see Judy's worry filled face.

"What about your mom? Is she alright?" Judy was immediately panicking, Jen was dealing with so much but didn't seem like the type to open up, and Judy had to admit she felt had grown to really care about the woman a big deal.

"She's just been kinda lonely after dad." Hearing this broke Judy's heart but she let Henry continue on. "And I was thinking that she likes spending time with you a lot and you make her laugh so maybe you could have dinner with her or something." Henry looked at the art teacher who was staring at him with a shocked look on her face.

Judy couldn't quite comprehend what Henry was saying (or she was worried she might have understood wrong) so she asked for a confirmation to make sure she hadn't heard him wrong.

"You want me to have dinner with your mom?" She asked slowly, feeling out the thought in her head as it came out, as if it was something unheard of that couldn't possibly happen.

"You don't want to?" Henry's face fell and Judy hurried in to correct the impression she had given him.

"I want to!" She said with definitely too much enthusiasm. "I'm just a bit confused Henry."

"Don't you like my mom?" Henry seemed to already know the answer.

"I do. I really really like your mom a lot." Judy said softly, knowing full well by now that she had a full blown crush on the woman.

"Then maybe you could tell her that at the dinner." A cheeky smile was shot Judy's way.

"Are you saying you want me to ask your mom out on like a date?"

"I mean if you want to? Do you want to ask my mom out on a date?" Judy felt slightly unsettled. Yes,she wanted to, but it wasn't really quite that simple. Henry took Judy's silence as a no. "She's like really funny and smart and.."

"Henry I already know your mom you don't need to give me a sales pitch." Judy laughed at the boy, who was certainly very persistent about finding her mom a date. The brunette took a small pause to think before speaking again" I would love to ask your mom out on a date, I really would, but I don't think this is the right time for that. She's dealing with a lot. I want to give her time and space to grieve and heal, you understand?" Judy reached out to cup Henry's hand with hers before continuing. "I think what she could really use right about now is a friend by her side."

"Yeah I guess." Henry seemed to consider carefully what Judy had just said. " I just don't want her to be all alone now. She isn't very.... she doesn't like many people and she really likes you."

"I really like her too. And I'll make sure to show her some appreciation okay?" Judy gave Henry's hand a squeeze of assurance before getting up.

"Okay. Thanks Judy." Henry got up from his seat too, knowing he should probably be in math class by now.

"And I was wondering if you could perhaps not mention this conversation to your mom?" Judy said wincing at the thought of Jen finding out how eager Judy would be to take her out. It would definitely do more damage than anything else. "How about I cover for you if you cover for me?"

"Deal." Henry said, the two of them heading to Henry's class together.

Henry stopped right at the door, and turned to Judy. He hadn't let go of this just yet.

"You could still go for a dinner though? I'm sure mom would love to hang out."

"Sure. I'll think about it alright?" Judy said with a smile. She had a feeling this conversation would bite her in the ass later.

/// “Fucking Thelma and Louise”////

"Judy!" Laura exclaimed as soon as she saw the brunette standing by the school entrance.

"Laura! What a lovely surprise." Judy greeted the woman with a warm smile as she motioned her to come aside to talk, to not bother the flow of the crowd.

"What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be inside already?"

"I'm waiting for Jen." Judy said, fighting a blush when when she caught the look in the other woman's eyes.

"I can see that." Laura was nodding and examining Judy closely. " So how is everything? With Jen."

"Good! Good. Great even." Judy was overly cheery, as if there wasn't pining involved. With Jen. "I mean we are close you know. We've really got to know each other."

"Mmmhmm..." Laura didn't say anything for what felt like several minutes. "You ask her out yet?"

"No!" Judy stared at her in fake shock, having known this question would come up after all the times she had brought up Jen in conversation before. "Why would I... I mean I'm not... we're not... I don’t know what you’re insinuating."

"I'm just saying you sure talk a lot about this Jen, for just a friend you met like... what.... a month ago?"

"What can I say? I'm a people person." Judy defended herself.

"I think you're more of a Jen person." Laura smirked, making Judy stop at her tracks.

"I..." Judy said, avoiding Laura's intense eye contact and finding her eyes landing on Jen who was approaching them from the parking lot. Judy looked back at Laura.

"Is she behind us?" Laura asked, earning a confused look from Judy. "I kind of figured it out from the heart eyes and the drool." Judy started at her in shock, glancing back quickly at Jen to make sure she wasn't at hearing distance. "I'm joking Judy. I mean I'm not. There's clearly something going on. But that's none of my business really."

Judy looked up at Laura with a shy smile, still occasionally looking over at Jen who seemed to be slowing down, perhaps waiting for Laura and Judy to stop talking.

"I think she's waiting for you to go."

"You two want some privacy?" Laura raised her eyebrow, and could see from the nervous face Judy was making, that Jen was right behind them. "Well it was nice talking to you miss Hale." Laura winked at the brunette. " You really are such a wonderful teacher, so very considerate. I'm glad to have my children under your care."

Judy brought her hands to her heart and awwed jokingly.

"That is very sweet of you to say, you have such lovely kids." Judy said abd with that Laura left and Jen scooted in quickly to take her place. And Judy was in the clouds, like she always tended to be with Jen.


	17. Please be C

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeah definitely not the last chap so 
> 
> hi guyses

Monday morning Jen woke up exhausted. She had barely gotten a wink of sleep the night before, having been so consumed by thoughts of Judy and what Henry said. By now she was spiraling enough to doubt Henry's reliability and was almost ready to count on Henry having understood the situation wrong. But Jen still felt that she needed to discuss her feelings with Judy today, because she was going crazy with the touching and the flirting going on, especially when she wasn't quite sure whether a) Judy did that with everyone, b) Judy didn't realize she was doing it in the first place or c) Judy liked her and was genuinely showing interest in her. God that pesky C was really working her up, she couldn't concentrate on anything. 

Jen ate breakfast as quickly as she could, and hurried the boys to get ready. Charlie was in the end left waiting on the porch because his friend wasn't picking him up extra early just because Jen was eager to make a love confession. Jen and Henry left significantly earlier than usual, and Henry was still finishing a breakfast sandwich in the car.

"Are you gonna talk to Judy today?" Henry asked with his mouth full of food.

"Maybe. We will see." Jen said as if she had any choice at this point. She had to talk to the other woman.

"I hope Judy won't know I told on her." Henry said, glancing worriedly at his mother for reassurance.

"I'll talk about my feelings not hers. Don't worry."

"You have feelings? Like the romantic kind of feelings?" 

Jen was so unfocused and desperately trying to look at the road and not think about Judy that she was barely aware of the conversation.

"I honestly don't know honey, it's complicated. I'll talk to you about it later, okay?"

"I think it's gonna go well." Henry said happily. "I really like Judy. I would really like it if she was like your girlfriend or something."

"Henry. Let's not get ahead of things okay." Jen looked at the boy next to her couldn't help but smile looking at how happy he was. "I don't want you to get disappointed if things don't work out."

"You think it won't work out?"

"No honey." Jen was getting frustrated, so much going through her head. "I didn't say that. I'm just saying anything could happen. I'll make sure to tell you first how everything turned out okay?"

"Okay."

Once they were finally at the school, Henry ran past everyone to the entrance, and since Judy wasn't there yet, and his mom would probably want privacy, he just made his way to inside. Jen took her time, already noting at the car that Judy hadn't come yet. She walked to the school entrance slowly, hoping Judy would pop up before she was there, but they must have been at least 15 minutes early, and they were already early on normal school days, to give Jen a chance to talk to Judy for a bit. After five or so minutes of awkward standing around, Judy finally showed up.

Jen froze as soon as she saw the other woman approaching. She no longer remembered her big speech, and wasn't sure that if she did, she would get through even the hello. Judy was coming towards her, smiling brightly, her dress flowing as she walked. Jen swallowed. Shit.

"Hey. You're early." Judy said, as chipper as usual. Like nothing was different. And nothing really was different for Judy, yet.

"Umm.. yeah. Wanted to get a head start." Jen just mumbled, her awkwardness making Judy chuckle.

"You alright Harding?" Judy brought her hand to rest on Jen's shoulder, finally earning direct eye contact, which was not really helping Jen feel more comfortable.

"I..." Jen started panicking. She had no idea what to say or how to say it. "I..."

"Yes?"

"I have something to tell you." Jen said, as if it wasn't fairly obvious from her previous tries.

"What is it?"

"Have dinner with me tonight?" Was what came out of Jen's mouth. She hadn't quite thought this through but knew she needed more time and especially privacy. She didn't need to get rejected in front of the whole school.

"Oh okay. Sure." Judy seemed to not have been expecting that, but agreed almost instantly. Good sign, right?

"Henry and Charlie are both going to be at sleepovers." Jen just lied, knowing she had go asking around from all the parents if they would be willing to arrange such thing. She didn't want to use Lorna, not right after the weekend.

"Oh."

"So it's going to be just us." Jen said, looking around her, anywhere but Judy. "Hope that's alright."

"It's alright." Jen glanced at Judy quickly to see a shy smile form on her face. She had to know what this was about. This wasn't just a normal gals night invite.

"Good." Jen said, and an awkward silence followed. Jen was early so Judy wasn't in a hurry to go to class. "Good." She repeated quietly, shifting her stance uncomfortably. "7pm?"

" Seven is perfect. I look forward to it."

"Me too." Jen said, sensing a similar nervous energy in Judy's voice. "I should go."

"Okay." Judy seemed to understand. She always did.

Jen almost forgot that routinely she was supposed to see Judy again before the dinner and she only realized this whilst getting out of the car and noticing Judy and Henry, as usual, waiting for her outside.

She slowly walked up to the pair, hoping to come up with some non-awkward small talk that wouldn't bring up the dinner date. Because the date part was implied but Jen wasn't quite sure she was ready to admit that if Judy asked about it.

"Hey honey. You have a good day at school?" Jen asked the boy who was ready to go through his day in detail. Jen looked up to Judy, to see her smiling lovingly at Henry, before their eyes met over him. Jen wasn't quite listening but once she heard Henry pause, she quickly chimed in. 

"That sounds like a good day." She ruffled his hair gently before looking up at Judy to finally address her. "Hello to you too."

"Come here often?" Judy smirked a bit before letting out a quiet chuckle.

"For you I manage to show up on occasion." Jen said, feeling daring as she met Judy's eyes again. "I think we should head home now."

"Already?" Henry seemed to be expecting something more from the conversation.

"You gotta start getting ready for your sleepover." Judy pointed out, and Jen realized on that instant that Henry didn't know yet. And Judy thought this was just a pre-planned thing. Not something Jen did specifically to get privacy.

"What sleepover?" Henry asked, rightfully confused, as he turned to Jen.

"Ermm... you know... you're going to Adam's tonight." 

"I am? Why?"

"You guys are having a sleepover." Jen said and before Henry could say more she added the important part. "And me and Judy are having dinner." She didn't look at Judy when she said that, despite wanting desperately to know what the other woman was thinking right now.

"Oh. Okay then." Henry accepted the change of plans now, and started walking to the car, pleased.

"Bye then." Jen said, still not looking up from the ground, but as she turned around , she felt Judy grab her arm.

"Wait." Judy pulled Jen towards her, which resulted in Jen turning to look at Judy. The woman seemed unphased. "I was thinking... is there a dress code? For this dinner? Should I wear something fancy?" 

Jen was confused at first but the question made sense, she hadn't really shared any details regarding the dinner, so Judy had no idea what it was going to be like.

"Uhhh... no. Whatever is fine. Honestly I hadn't even thought about it but I'm gonna wear something casual I think."

"Okay. That sounds good." Judy nodded. "Can't wait." She said, almost giddy, which in turn was making Jen simultaneously very nervous and very happy.

"Me neither." 

After the two had said their goodbyes and departed, Henry and Jen made their way home. Jen told her boys about the sleepovers and Charlie seemed happy with the news and Henry had apparently decided to give her space and not press it too much, which Jen was extremely thankful for.

Once the boys had left, Jen started working on a chinese food recipe that Judy had recommended to her, thinking that was probably the best she could do. 

After the food was done and she was looking good enough, but not too dolled up or anything, like she was trying too hard, she had some unfortunate time left to just sit in regret and seriously consider whether she should cancel on Judy. Thankfully her thinking (and drinking) session took long enough for Judy to already be outside by the time she was coming out of her uncertainty. There was no choice but to face the situation.

When Jen opened the door, the energy floating between the two women felt different. It wasn't just quite friendly, but there was no charge no tension, it felt comfortable despite the stress of what was to come. Judy looked beautiful like always, in her cute jacket and her pretty dress and her kinda hot boots. Jen really liked looking at Judy. This might all be worth it if there was even the smallest chance that perhaps someday in the future she might be able to admire her features without having to look away when Judy met her gaze, and study how bright her smile was when she painted, how she fiddled her fingers when she was nervous and how she automatically reached out to touch Jen, so very gently, whenever the blonde was looking even the slightest bit upset, all under the excuse of wanting to know her lover. If everything went well.

"You gonna let me in?" 

"Fuck, yeah. Come in." Jen opened the door wider, letting Judy in. Instead of going to the kitchen or dining room, Judy just stood there awkwardly and god this felt like a date. "You want me to take your jacket?" 

"Oh! I mean I can take it off myself-" But Jen had already moved behind the woman to awkwardly aid her in the simple task of shedding her jacket. If this was going to be a date, at least Jen would be putting her best foot forward. Jen motioned for Judy to go into the kitchen and followed soon after.

Judy was sat by the kitchen aisle, so Jen took a seat opposite her.

"You started without me?" Judy pointed at the half empty bottle of wine in front of her.

Jen could suddenly no longer speak, even to reply to a quick quip of Judy's and she repeatedly opened her mouth with no success.

"I need to talk to you about something." 

"Oh, okay." Judy straightened up in her seat. "I'm all ears."

"Well....." Jen started, knowing she could no longer back away from this. She looked at her hands on her lap." I..... ummm.... I.....I talked to Henry, and he told me some things.....that gave me the impression that maybe you might possibly somehow be interested in me." Jen sped through the last part, and hadn't probably even pronounced every word. When she looked up, Judy was about to speak. "And don't say anything. Don't you dare. You'll ruin my fucking flow."

Judy shifted a bit in her seat, and leaned in a little, waiting for Jen to go on. Jen took a deep breath.

"I just wanted to say that I really really really like you." Jen's eyes darted around the room. "Like a lot. And I don't fucking know how this is even possible, because I've been with Ted for most of my life, but I don't think I've ever felt quite like this before. There's just something about you... you manage to make me happy and I genuinely love to be around you, which in itself is a miracle I fucking hate spending time with people. But when I'm with you, I get fucking butterflies for gods sake and I'm not sure I've ever had butterflies before you. " Jen felt so relieved, but she was still nervously waiting for Judy to speak. " And you know if I've read this situation totally wrong or if Henry misunderstood or for some reason lied maybe to make me feel better... bless his heart, and you don't like me like that... then tough shit. That's fine. I just couldn't not say anything cause I'm kind of going crazy here. " She added, and Judy was still silently listening to her, wanting to give Jen her moment to open up. "You can talk now. That's all I wanted to say." Jen said impatiently.

"I don't know exactly what Henry told you, but if this is the result? I think he did a pretty good job."

"So...?" 

"Well... I'm definitely interested. In you." Judy said with a smile creeping up on her face, as she reached her hand out over the aisle. Jen took Judy's hand in both of hers and rubbed her tums over her palm gently. She was smiling like a fool.

"Well that's a relief. I was going all Notebook here and it would have sucked to do that sappy shit for nothing. Fucking hate that movie so this is definitely a new low for me.

"I kind of think it's sweet." 

"Oh, in that case..." Jen's voice softened instantly. "Should we check if it's on Netflix, we could watch it right now. I'm pretty sure it's been so long I've seen it that I just can't remember how good it is."

"No, I'm good like this. Maybe next time?" Judy smiled warmly at Jen who would have probably gladly watched any movie to get out of an emotional conversation.

"Yeah. Sure. Next time." Jen nodded. There was going to be a next time.

"Jen?"

"Yeah?" Jen looked up from their hands for once for more than a few seconds.

"Do you mind if I..." Judy started getting up and took a few steps closer to Jen.

"No not at all. I mind if you don't." And Jen forgot all about possibly playing it cool, letting her eagerness show in her voice and the swift movement of turning in her chair towards Judy. "Unless you don't want to of course."

"I want to." And with that, Judy's lips were on Jen's and Jen was certain this had to be a dream, because no one was this pretty and smelled this nice and kissed this good. She started getting up a bit but instead Judy pushed her down and settled her knee on th e chair between her thighs.

When Judy finally pulled away, Jen felt out of breath. Ted never kissed her like that. But then again Ted barely did barely the minimum amount of affection so that wasn't a good comparison.

"Woah." Jen just said

"Yeah." Judy was smiling as widely as she could, holding Jen's face in her hands. She leaned in to give her a quick kiss.

"So are we now like girlfriends? Since you really really really like me and I think you're pretty cute too." Judy asked, but didn't let Jen answer before kissing her again.

"I think I'm too old to be anyone's girlfriend."

Judy gasped, making Jen jump a bit, surprised by the reaction.

"Are you proposing?" Judy asked, trying to convey some level of seriousness, but couldn't contain her own giggles. “You want to be my housewife instead?”

"What? No, god don't scare me like that. I don't exactly have the best track record with marriage, you know." Jen reminded Judy. "Plus Lorna would lose her shit, which now that I'm thinking about it, I wouldn't mind. But you’re definitely my housewife, hope you like to cook because Henry and Charlie eat like horses.”

"So you're proposing, but only to annoy Lorna?"

"Of course. It's strictly a practical marriage."

"Oh I see." Judy's smile turned into a pout. "I guess that means I wore my best lingerie for nothing then."

And with that, Jen choked and started coughing. With Judy's knee still between her thighs, that was not what she needed to hear right now.

"God Judy, don't say shit like that I..." Judy was laughing at Jen who was squirming in her seat. "I just meant that surely Lorna as a smart woman would notice if something was off so we probably should act just like a married couple in private too, you know, just in case. And there's no reason to waste good lingerie." 

"So what you're saying is, we should get married to annoy your mother in law, but still remain just friends whilst literally being a normal married couple in both public and private."

"I think what I'm saying is that I drank way too much wine before you came, so now I'm unable to form coherent thoughts." Jen defended, making Judy burst out laughing against Jen's shoulder.

"No shit."

"But I do really mean what I said...you know...earlier." Jen's arms were around Judy's waste and her eyes were firmly concentrated on analyzing the material of Judy's belt. "And I would gladly be your girlfriend."

"You would?" 

"Why the hell not?" Jen could see how overjoyed Judy was and heart was beating so quickly she felt like it might break out of her chest.

"Good point." Judy kissed her once more and Jen had feeling that in the future Judy's lips may just well as be more often on hers than not. "Should we eat? I can see you've made food." Judy took a step back and went to the counter to look over Jen's attempt at the recipe she had given her.

"Yeah, I totally forgot with the kissing and the... kissing. I made some chinese. Now it's probably not authentic and delicious but I really tried to-"

"It's perfect." Judy shut her up with a quick kiss.

"You going to just kiss me every time I'm in the middle of a sentence from now on?"

"Mmmm probably." Judy acted like she had to think about it.

"You're lucky you're such a good kisser."

"I'm lucky I get to kiss you." Judy booped Jen's nose before turning her attention back to the food and stared looking for bowls. "Now let's eat. I'm honestly starving."

Jen just sat and looked at the other woman, in her kitchen as she gave Jen a bowl and set some glasses down for them. Judy got out a bottle of her favourite wine that Jen had been saving for the brunette. It felt so comfortable and domestic, and Jen considered how much had changed since sunday. It felt simultaneously like everything and nothing was the same.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sry i didnt proof read im so hungry 🥺 bro gotta get some food in me ill get back to this later


	18. Vomit inducing love confessions at work

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys! I took the weekend off i hope you didnt miss me too much. my dog is now 6 months old!!! so that's special. 
> 
> anyways heres the chapter, there's gonna be at least one more. and as you guys know... no proof reading... we die like kings.

Judy stayed the night. Nothing happened really apart from some heavy making out, but Jen was not about to let the brunette leave just when they had finally found bliss together. It was almost as if Judy leaving would also mean Jen was alone with her thoughts, and she really didn't want to ruin this one for herself. They, however, did not, in the midst of all the kissing and laughing, really think the decision through, as in the morning Judy was already late from school as expected after staying up most of the night. Monday really wasn't the day for love confessions. 

In a hurry, grateful that the boys weren't home to add, to the stress, Jen went through her closet trying to find Judy something to wear that didn't scream Jen. It was pretty much impossible so Judy's attire ended up being a white button up and a black skirt they magically found somewhere in the very back of Jen's closet. Jen thought she looked especially sexy wearing her clothes, but Judy pointed out desperately, knowing she would have a hard time saying no to Jen, that they were very late and Judy was responsible for Henry's learning amongst other children. Jen kept it together and kept nodding decisively as if she had to confirm with herself every five minutes that no now was not the right time for her to lift Judy onto the kitchen counter and kiss her senseless. 

Jen drove Judy to work, feeling oddly chipper for once, despite it being an earlyish morning. It probably had something to do with the domesticity of waking up next to Judy and now getting to drive her to work. Once finally outside the school, Jen turned to awkwardly wish Judy a good day at work, only to be interrupted by a very welcome kiss. 

"I'll see you later." Judy said as she got out of the car. It all happened so quickly that Jen wasn't quite sure whether she was just daydreaming. She sat there for a moment, smiling stupidly, before finally going home to contemplate. 

\------ 

Once Judy could make out the school in the distance, from the car window, she calmed down a little. She was here now so it couldn't really get much worse. She got to work as quickly as she could. She smoothened her skirt and glanced at Jen, who seemed happy enough to erase all the worry cluttering Judy's mind. Judy reached out to grab Jen's jacket from the backseat, and once now objections were heard, she put it on. 

They stopped right outside and without thinking too much of it, Judy leaned in to kiss Jen. It was a quick peck, the kind she wanted to experience in a setting like this, going to work, driven by her girlfriend. Judy felt giddy as she pulled away. 

“I’ll see you later.” She called out to Jen, already out of the car. Judy would have loved to stay in the car for a classic parking lot make out session, but she really couldn’t be any more late from work. She couldn’t help but look back at the blonde, who was still sitting there, smiling, which in turn made Judy’s smile grow wider. 

Thankfully, a friend of Judy’s had covered for her first class, and Judy could step in fairly smoothly half way through. Henry wasn’t in the first class which, Judy had to admit, made her feel a lot calmer, as the boy might have put two and two together if Judy was late for class. In the teachers' lounge, sje 

explained that she had forgot to set the alarm, and she saw some stares of disbelief. She sat down in the corner to have some tea and Maureen approached her as soon as she had settled. 

“Judy, what are you wearing?” 

“What?” Judy was momentarily confused, before realizing she was in Jen’s clothes. “Oh, these? I was just trying something new.” Judy smiled awkwardly, taken off guard by the question. 

“Something new like the coat that Jen Harding wore yesterday?” Maureen raised an eyebrow, not really judging her for whatever she thought had went down with Jen, but perhaps her horrible attempt at covering it up. 

Judy was blushing aggressively and opened her mouth to say something, before realizing there was really no reason to lie about it. She didn’t need to exactly showcase it but she wouldn’t want their relationship to be hidden so she stayed silent, letting her awkward but joyous smile say everything. 

“Thought so.” Maureen smiled knowingly before heading for her office. 

As if one confrontation wasn’t enough, Judy ran into Henry when leaving the lounge. 

“Judy?” And as soon as she saw Henry’s eyes widen, she knew the boy had obviously caught onto her secret. Why wouldn’t he notice that she was wearing his mother’s clothes. 

“Henry... hi!” Judy greeted him with an awkward smile. 

“Are you wearing my mom’s clothes?” 

“No!” Was Judy’s automatic response, but she knew there was no choice but for her to come clean now. “Well yes. I am. Your mom lent me some clothes.” 

“Don’t you have your own clothes?” 

“I do. But... we had a sleepover, and I didn’t take a change of clothes.” Judy explained, studying the boy who seemed happy if anything. 

“Oh.” Henry was practically jumping with excitement. “So are you and my mom....” 

“I’m sure you’ll mom will talk to you about it.” Judy smiled sweetly, not wanting to overstep, in case Jen had something in mind, about how to discuss this with Henry. “Go to class, you’ll be late!” Judy rushed him. 

“I will. I’m so happy you and my mom are together. And Charlie will be happy too. He thinks you’re like the perfect girlfriend for mom.” 

“He does?” Judy’s heart warmed at hearing this. Henry nodded enthusiastically, not noticing how affected Judy was by his words. “That’s very sweet. I’m glad too. You are such amazing kids, and I look forward to spending more time with you in the future.” Judy said, not really considering that they hadn’t discussed what this meant for the kids yet, and now she was practically insinuating that she would be a part of their family. Judy sent Henry on his way to class before retreating into her room, to try to not think about the thoughts in her head. 

\------ 

Jen was in a particularly good mood at work, and that did definitely not go unnoticed by her coworkers. Everyone was however very intimidated by even a very seemingly happy Jen, so the task of finding the reason for Jen’s joy, was left to Christopher. 

“What’s up with you?” Christopher approached her, as she was getting a coffee for herself. “Is this your 3rd cup or something?” 

“First.” Jen said with a smile. She had been tempted to make herself a cup, when she went by her house, but she decided she wasnt in a hurry. Unlike usually, she was wide awake and happy about it. 

“God. What the fuck then? Are you on drugs? Because you’re never in a good mood in the morning.” 

“It’s like 10 am Christopher, I’d hardly call that very early.” Jen pointed out. 

“Did you get laid?” Christopher started his interrogation, very pleased to see he hit a nerve. “You did didn’t you? Oh my god Jen, I’m so fucking proud of you.” 

“Yeah, well I’d apreciate if this stayed between us.” 

“Is it a recurring thing or just a one night stand?” Christopher completely ignored Jen’s attempt at ending the conversation. 

“Neither. I mean it’s not... we didn’t....” Jen was struggling to just come out with it but surely the easiest way to shut Christopher up would be to just lay down the truth. “She’s my girlfriend.” Jen said quickly before taking her coffee and walking away from Christopher who obviously started following her. 

“I see how it is.” Christopher said from behind her, and as she turned around, she was faced with a teasing grin. 

“Yeah.” Jen just said, feeling uncomfortable, perhaps because of how much she cared for Judy. Just discussing her with someone made her feel vulnerable. “Well, I’m like in fucking love with her or something and I would really appreciate if you would fight the urge to tease me about it and just let it go because I kind of can’t help but go all weak in the knees when i think about her and I really can’t have that kind of vomit inducing shit at work. You get it right? 

Christopher looked shocked, but quickly gave Jen an understanding smile. 

“I’m just happy for you.” He said quietly, leaning in a bit. “Does she treat you right?” 

“She’s the fucking sweetest person I know.” Jen started almost tearing up at the chance of getting to praise Judy like this “ I have no idea how she’s even with me.” 

“I guess she sees something underneath that cold hard shell of a bitch.” Christopher gave Jen a playful push. Lorna’s voice came from her office, calling out Christopher, so he exited with a nod, leaving Jen standing with her coffee, feeling surprisingly relieved after being able to bring up Judy with someone. She liked her so much, and it felt really nice to share that with someone. God she was just like every person in love huh. In love. That was what she had said.


	19. Comfortable silence

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> charlie is vibing in this chapter 🙏🏻

After work, Jen went about her day like normal, so her next stop was the school. She was slightly earlier than usual, and knowing the classes had probably not finished quite yet, she leaned against the wall of the lobby to wait for Henry and Judy. She was almost shaking with anticipation, and still felt like maybe none of the things that had happened i the past day had been real. It just felt too good to be true.

Once the school bells finally rang out through the hallways and kids started running out, Jen picked up her posture and turned to face the direction she expected Judy and Henry to come from any minute now. And in no time, they did. Judy rushed through the children to get to Jen, whilst trying to not seem way too excited to see Jen again. Henry was right behind her sharing the joy.

"Hi." Judy gave Jen a meaningful look and glanced at her lips. Both women were aware that this wasn't the best place for that, so Judy settled to reach out for Jen's hand for a quick squeeze.

"Hey." Came out slightly more nervous than Jen had intended, but nevertheless it got the simple message across.

"Is Judy coming home with us?" That was definitely the last thing Jen expected Henry to say, and Judy seemed just as taken back by the sudden inquiry. Jen opened her mouth and glanced quickly at Judy for assurance before replying to her son.

"No honey. We are going home and we will be seeing Judy again tomorrow."

"But why can't she have another sleepover now that I'm home. I want to be there too." Henry insisted.

Judy's face was showing signs of nervous panic at the boys words, not knowing whether she had fucked up by telling Henry, but Jen quickly grabbed her hand assuringly and grounded her once again, accepting the apology in her eyes without a beat.

"Well... maybe Judy could come over for a sleepover some other day this week? If she wants to?" Jen looked at Judy to check in with her and see her nodding. "Tonight I'd like to just spend some quality time with my two favourite guys." Jen ruffled Henry's hair, making him giggle.

"Alright, mom." He pushed her hand away in a fit of laughter, and when Jen looked to her right, where Judy was standing, she could see the brunette joining in and laughing warmly at the sight.

"How about you go to the car already and I'll go over the details of this possible sleepover with Judy?" Jen leaned in to give Henry a quick kiss before sending him on his way.

"God I'm really sorry I told him. I just said we had a sleepover because he immediately caught on that I was wearing your clothes and..." Judy started apologizing as soon as Henry was out of hearing distance.

"It's fine. Judy you really don't have to apologise." Jen stepped a bit closer and settled her hands on Judy’s waist. “Henry can be a fucking lot, so I don't expect you to be able to make him change his mind when he has something in his head. I mean really don't look like yourself at all, so I feel like there's no other excuse really." Jen laughed lightly.

"I know! I don't know what were thinking in the morning! You literally wore this coat yesterday!"

"Blinded by love perhaps?" Jen said fairly smoothly, but her heart stopped as soon as the sentence was out of her mouth, realizing "love" wasn't really something they had discussed. She moved past it quickly, hoping Judy would take it as lightly as she originally meant it. "Regardless, it's fine. I don't mind if people know about us.” Jen avoided eye contact for a moment, thinking maybe Judy doesn’t want anyone to know about them. If there really is a proper Them to know about yet.. “Unless you mind?”

"Oh I don't mind!" Judy exclaimed happily. “I definitely don’t mind.” Jen smiled, relieved that they were on the same page about this.

"Well then." Jen pulled the other woman a bit closer, forgetting their surroundings for a second, though there was no one in the lounge to remind them. "You free tomorrow around 5pm?"

"Yeah. I am." Judy almost gasped out quietly, her eyes meeting Jen's lips that were slowly coming in closer.

"Good. Maybe we can finish this then." Jen went in for what was supposed to be a peck but the blonde lingered a bit too long, eventually pulling apart quickly, just leaving Judy hanging there.

Judy was taken back by the teasing and couldn’t get a word out before Jen was already gone.

Henry was well behaved on the car ride home but once both of the boys were home together, Jen was starting to feel uneasy. She had to tell them officially. Really tell them.

"So... guys." Jen cleared her throat, interrupting the two of them who were in the middle of watching tv, most likely something Henry shouldn't watch. "Me and Judy... we are dating."

"You are?" This made Charlie turn to his mom, surprised by this turn of events despite having also expected this to happen at some point. " That's great mom." He said with a genuine smile.

"I knew it would happen!" Henry jumped up from the couch to go hug his mom. "I like having Judy around so much, this is like the best thing ever."

"I like having her around too. And speaking of having her around, shes coming over tomorrow." Jen soon realized that a sleepover would definitely sound less pure and sweet to Charlie who was too old to be fooled by it, so she found herself at a loss for words.

"Is she sleeping over again?" And there were the words, right out of Henry's mouth.

"She slept over?" Charlie looked at his mom in disbelief.

“I don’t know yet Henry. And we just fell asleep, okay?” Jen said so quickly that it definitely came off like a blatant lie. "We had so much fun that Judy was too tired to be sent home on her own." She explained not really making the situation easier to digest.

"I bet you had fun." Charlie made vomiting noises.

"Shut up Charlie." Jen smacked his shoulder lightly, making Henry giggle.

"I'm kidding! Chill out mom." Charlie backed away laughing and raised his hands up in surrender.

"I'm happy for you." Was the first thing out of Charlie's mouth after Henry had gone to bed. "You like really deserve this mom. Judy seems like a great person. But don't go fucking it up or anything."

"Thank you honey." Jen opened her arms to invite Charlie in for a hug, but when the boy didn't move, she made her way over to him instead. "I'll try not to fuck it up."

Charlie let the hug go on longer than usual but eventually pulled away to look back at the tv, as if nothing had just happened. Jen sat back on the couch, a but further away from her son, and looked at him for a moment, admiring how much he had grown, before turning back to the tv as well. They sat in comfortable silence for a while until Charlie said good night and went upstairs, Jen following soon behind him.


	20. Rainy morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :-) im going to the dog park in a sec 2 see some shelties w my baby sheltie im very excited

Jen woke up before her alarm had a chance to ring, and momentarily she was cursing herself for not being able to fall asleep again because of the loud rain hitting the roof, until she remembered she would be seeing Judy in a few hours. She wondered whether the other woman was as excited and nervous as she was, or perhaps feeling the same odd sense of calmness that was simultaneously existing within the blonde's head. 

Jen thought about the past, which as an activity was usually filled with regret but this time she felt exceptionally content and comforted by where she was now. She thought about the future, which she had not done in a while, because with Ted life was frankly boring and just getting through the day was a task, and after Ted life was painful and she was constantly battling guilt and motherhood, not allowing herself to even consider what tomorrow might bring. But now, Jen wanted a future, she was excited for what was to come. She was excited to take all these first steps with Judy and experience things together. Jen felt ridiculously happy. And she had always considered herself to be an unhappy person, just by construct, yet here she was, smiling, giggling even, in her bed thinking about Judy. 

After some uncharacteristically soft and tender daydreaming, Jen got up and dressed, ready to face the day. Not that there was anything but good things ahead, at least for once in her life. Not even the rain could take away her contentness.

She went through her morning routine, just a bit slower than usual, really taking her time as she had more than enough of it. She went to get Charlie and Henry for breakfast slightly earlier than usual, hoping Charlie wouldn't notice and throw a fit about it. 

"What the fuck mom? I don't have to get up for another 30 minutes!" Charlie buried his face in his pillow, angry that he was now too awake to get those 30 minutes back. "Just because you want to make out in the janitors closet with your girlfriend doesn't mean I have to get up early. Sam is driving me to school, so go torture Henry." Charlie whined.

"We don't make out in the janitors closet! The school is Judy's place of work it will be treated as such." Jen replied defensively. Even if Judy made her feel like a teenager, they were not going to act like ones

"Henry said you made out at school yesterday." Charlie was barely listening her excuses, blank faced.

"When did he say that?" 

"When I was trying to play with my friends last night. He kept talking about you guys. It was so fucking annoying." Charlie groaned thinking back to Henry’s non-stop babbling.

"Don't say fuck." Jen corrected quickly before clearing her throat, ready to ramble. "We didn't really make out, it was a goodbye kiss. And I-"

"Mom, you can do whatever the f- whatever you want okay? I'm an adult, I can take it. And Henry can definitely take it."

"I just don't want you to think I'm entering a relationship too quickly. That I'm not putting you guys first. Because Judy isn't going to affect us right now, and I want you to know that. She might come over sometimes but nothing else is going to change." Jen explained, not really having expected a vulnerable chat right now, but she wanted Charlie to know she was thinking about her boys too and not just Judy.

"I think things should change. I like it when it's just the three of us but I also like Judy and she makes you happy.” Charlie offered. “Please just stop worrying mom! Stop listening to grandma. Me and Henry? We are fine! Really! And I think the only effect Judy will have on our family is that we will be happier because you will be happier.” Charlie said earnestly, glancing up at his mother’s teary eyes. . “And Henry will stop bothering me because he'll start bothering Judy."

"When did you become so grown up? You keep this up and I'll start expecting better grades."

"I can spray paint a police station again or something to keep you on your toes."

"I think I'm good." Jen chuckled but gave him a warning look. "I love you Char." Jen leaned in to kiss his forehead.

"Now do you mind letting me sleep for 15 more minutes, please?" Charlie started pushing her away immediately with no success.

"Sure. Go for it." Jen encouraged him, getting up from her sons bed and wishing Charlie sweet dreams before joining Henry for breakfast downstairs.

Jen and Henry left before Charlie, both too eager to wait for just a few minutes longer. The earlier they left the more time they would have with Judy. On the way to school Jen fought the urge to ask for some reassurance that Henry wouldn't mind if Jen was seeing Judy seriously. Clearly Henry liked Judy, and also could not keep a secret, so it wouldn't make sense that he had anything against Judy becoming a part of their lives. And Judy was so good to the kids that Lorna had no right to say that this was against the boys best interests. If Judy wanted to, she would be welcome to be a part of their family. 

Once they were at school, both Henry and Jen ran across the parking lot in the rain, to Judy who was waiting for them right inside. Jen ran into her arms, making the woman squeal.

"You're soaked! Don't touch me." Judy was laughing as the blonde’s cold hands made their way to Judy's hips. "Henry, don't you dare." Judy warned the boy playfully when she saw him about to jump into her arms as well. Henry settled on holding her hand, which wasn't nearly as uncomfortable of an experience.

"If I go put my books in my locker will you promise to not leave before I'm back?" Henry asked, concerned that he would miss out on something.

"Of course honey." Judy turned to him with a nod and he ran as quickly as he could into the hallway. Judy looked after him with a smile

"You know that was not the greeting I was hoping for." Jen purred softly.

"Oh no?" Judy raised an eye brow, still keeping Jen at arms length. 

"No." Jen pouted before Judy leaned in to kiss her quickly, pulling away as soon as she felt Jen's arms pull her closer. Judy started giggling as she shoved her away.

"I really don't have a chance of clothes you know. I can't have you getting me all wet." Judy said, her eyes meeting Jen's.

"I can't help it." The blonde grinned for a bit, before turning back to the hallway, to see Henry running towards them.

"Hey Hen, you ready for class?" Jen leaned down to hug him but he rejected the gesture not wanting to get his clothes more wet than they already were.

"The class doesn't start for like 15 minutes." Henry said matter-of-factly looking for a clock to prove his point.

"You guys are a bit early."

"I wonder why we come to the school early as f- very early every morning."

"Yeah I'd like to know that too." Judy was beaming, as they both knew Jen would probably come to the school on weekends too if it meant seeing Judy. Light blush was on Jen's face in an instant as she really took in the fact that she had never put this much effort to see someone and spend time with them.

"So that we can hang out with you Judy! Duh!" Henry was confused by the conversation.

"Ah, well if that's the case, I'm very flattered."

"And.... speaking of hanging out, are you coming over for a sleepover tonight?" Henry inquired, trying to come of cool and collected despite clearly being as excited as humanly possible.

"I sure am."

"Yay! Can we play some boardgames together?" Henry was jumping now and Jen couldn't help but laugh at him, making Judy giggle a bit too.

"Of course! I'm a board-game champion." Judy stated, but all she got from Henry was a look of disbelief and a quiet oh boy from Jen.

"Well actually I'm the champion of our family..."

"Oh I see. Then we must settle this tonight don't you think? Battle for the title of the champion." Judy suggested, and Henry was back to enthusiastic jumping.

"Yes! And Charlie and mom have to play too." Henry looked at his mom for a confirmation.

"I'll talk to Charlie but no promises." Jen said, already aware that Henry would take that as a yes.


	21. We means I

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so i heard about dtm being renewed obviously and god im happy it even got a s3 but im dreading next year thinking about how it will be over 🥺 i love this show so much i could've watched jen and judy do anything. but i am glad they can prepare for it and they know its the last season, and at least it will probably get a perfect end bcs it wont be dragged!
> 
> but im definitely gonna miss the show bcs it really made me begin publishing my stuff and i dont think id be writing anything right now if it wasnt for dead to me. 
> 
> there's a few fics i have under works right now and this one is to an end soon but im really into this fic and i have plans to write some more on this au, so if anyones feeling sad that this fic will be over, theres gonna be more dont worry! I don't quite know whether it'll be some one shots somewhere in the future or a full on multi chapter fic where we dive into these guys relationship but regardless im interested in writing something within this universe :) 
> 
> and ofc ill be picking up marry me a little this week if anyones read that one, ill get to writing that asap when i get the last chapter(s) of this written and published.

Jen went to work in a good mood for god knows how manieth time since she had met Judy, and she felt refreshed and happy. Work rarely made her feel anything other than stress and maybe a bit of competitive success after she had done a good job, but she didn’t really enjoy her work, not with the pure love and adoration Judy felt for teaching. Except for today, she felt light and happy enough to not let the doom of Lorna's complaining and the overwhelming work load bring her down.

Christopher came to her office as soon as she had sat herself down, and she wasn't too annoyed about it, despite knowing that the man was most likely there just to snoop around for more information about Judy.

"Just say what you came here to say already. Promise I won't bite." Jen gave him a tight smile after having felt his looming presence in the doorway for a bit too long to feel comfortable to keep waiting for Christopher to gather his courage to just come out with it and ask about Judy.

"Don't know about that last part." Christopher raised his eyebrows, making Jen roll her eyes. "But I was just wondering how you're doing?"

"Just how I'm doing? That's all?" Jen interrogated Christopher, who was starting to crack under pressure.

"You know... how you're doing, what you're doing, who you're doing..." 

"And there it is!" Jen clapped her hands together, slightly annoyed about her and Christopher dancing around the subject. "If you want to ask about Judy, just ask about Judy."

“Judy? Isn’t that Henry’s teacher? You’re dating the kids teacher?”

“Yeah so what? Where else am I supposed to meet people? At work? Because everyone here is a fucking bore.” Christopher coughed. "Except you I guess.”

"Fair enough. So how is Judy?”

"Fine."

"See? You refuse to talk about her! How am I supposed to discuss this with you? You're impossible."

"Okay. Well, she's good, we're good and happy." A smile sneaked it's way onto Jen's face just long enough for Christopher to catch it.

"I can see that. Are you going to tell the boys?"

"I told them yesterday."

"How'd it go?"

"Good. Really good. Henry loves Judy so that wasn't a surprise, and Charlie is being unusually sweet about it. No fuckery, just wise speeches about love."

"What's wrong with him?"

"I know! I suppose since Judy I've been a bit relaxed and it's making Charlie feel a bit more at ease too. He used to be so frustrated right after Ted. And I was angry too, I can't blame him for dealing with it in the wrong way when he gets it from me." Jen kept her eyes from darting to Christopher’s face as honesty hour was really not her favourite time of the day.

"Does this mean that the anger management you needed all along was the love of a woman? Is this a new age for you now? You all about peace and love? Hippie Jen rise?” Christopher teased her, which was exactly what Jen needed

"Fuck no. Most things still annoy the crap out of me. I'm just not so angry the world anymore. After Ted's accident I was just angry. At the driver yes, but also myself and the world in general. Angry that it happened at all. Now I'm more about blame and hating individual jackasses. So that's growth right?"

"I think so? It's okay to be angry when you feel you've been wronged, you just can't let it consume you, you know?"

"I know. That's what I've heard too."

"I'm glad Judy's perhaps making you scream at Tony less, for not making a new pot of coffee every-time he takes the last cup."

"Are you kidding? He can't keep getting away with it!" Jen almost jumped up from her chair, but Christopher looked at her raising frustration pointedly making her calm down a bit. “Not consumed, wronged." Jen pointed out.

"Mmmm." Christopher nodded. "So have you mentioned to Judy anything about the whole being in love with her situation? Or is that something that you're keeping under the wraps?"

"I..." Jen started, confident that she would have something reasonable to say, but the sentence died before it was even out of her mouth. The blonde hadn't realized that Christopher had paid that much attention to the exact wording, and was now feeling like she was in a corner. "Judy doesn't know. And I'm not even sure that I know for certain so I'd appreciate if we wouldn't converse about this so casually."

"Oh, sure." Christopher was once again nodding in agreement, but Jen knew he wouldn't shut up for long. "You just seemed pretty sure about you know? It felt like it came from the heart."

"Well it didn't, okay? It came from fucking nowhere. And I'm done talking about this."

"Don't look at me! You pretty much told me to ask about Judy."

"I know! I know.... can you just leave it okay?"

"Sure." Christopher gave her an understanding smile, thank god they had known each other for god knows how long. "It's kind of adorable how much of a softie she turns you into. Props to her." And before Jen could fight him and lie that her heart hadn’t gone soft, he was already out the door.

After a mediocre day of work she went to pick Henry up from school, to be routinely greeted by Judy and a kiss.

“Could get used to this.” Jen said, with a beaming smile on her face, to match Judy’s.

“Good, because this is gonna be how it is from now on.” Judy adjusted the collar of Jen’s coat, that she had crumpled up whilst holding onto it just a moment ago.

“It is?” Jen teased her, still looking at the brunette’s lips.

“Mhhhmm.” Judy nodded.

“Whatever you want, babe.” Jen gave Judy a quick kiss, that might have been less quick if Henry had not appeared in the corner of her eye. She pulled away, careful not to panic and overreact, as Henry didn’t seem to care that they were kissing, and Judy looked as happy and calm as always.

“Hi mom.” Henry grinned, looking between her and Judy. “Hi Judy.”

“Hey, how was your day?” Jen leaned down a bit to kiss his forehead quickly, before pulling back to catch his enthusiastic smile as he began to tell the two women a story. After a few minutes of rambling Jen cut in.

“That’s very cool Henry, but should we continue this story time in the car? We have to get home so we can get everything tidy and ready for the sleepover.”

“Oh! No need to clean up for me!” Judy reached out to take Jen’s hand.

“Bullsh- “ Jen stopped to look down at Henry, who was looking at her suspiciously, waiting fir her to finish. She cleared her throat. “Of course we have to have everything top notch ready for such a special guest.”

“Yeah! You’re the most special guest!” Henry was nodding and agreeing with his mothers sentiment. “Even more special than grandma.”

“That sounds really special.” Judy chuckled at the boy before letting her eyes meet Jen’s, which were already following her intently. “ I hope I live up to your expectations.” Judy gave Jen a tiny, slightly nervous smile.

“You will, don’t worry. We love you.” Jen said, and it took all her willpower to not react to the last part and just continue smiling at Judy peacefully. We love you wasn’t as personal as I love you for sure, but as the L-word was mentioned, Jen felt sick and uncomfortable. Judy’s eyes showed something Jen didn’t quite know yet, but hopefully would soon. The brunette opened her mouth, and there was a moment of silence, but one so short that Jen was sure only she had noticed, because Judy was quick with a response.

“ I love you guys too.” Judy purposefully kept up the eye contact, and Jen wanted to look away but couldn’t. Judy’s smile and the love in her eyes felt intoxicating, and Jen couldn’t get enough.

“Well we should go.” Jen gestured to the door awkwardly and Judy nodded, understanding. “See you tonight.” Jen leaned in for a quick kiss, before running after Henry who was already half way to the car.

At home Jen made sure to clean every corner of the house with the help of Henry and as usual a very reluctant and extremely whiny Charlie. She did her best in the little time she had, and considering she also had to make dinner for the whole family, she felt the job was a success.

She felt giddy, which was a feeling she had gotten very familiar with in the past month as she had pined after Judy. And now she was nervous for Judy to come over for dinner. Jen had been slowly coming to terms with the fact that she had never really felt quite so "lovey dovey" over a person before, and somehow sweet Judy was making her feel all the things, mostly positive ones though.

She was desperately trying to cook something edible after a week of mostly fails. She really didn't want to ruin this, whatever this was, because it wasn't really a date, by giving Judy food poisoning.

Henry was talking non-stop as Jen cooked, praising Judy and moving between his mother and Charlie who had both heard enough, despite both understanding his appreciation for the brunette. His constant babbling was finally silenced by a car pulling up outside, which also got Charlie's attention. Jen nervously fiddled her fingers as she waited for the bell to ring, not needing to go open the door since Henry had already ran to the hallway.

She heard the bell, then the door open, and some joyous laughter from both Henry and Judy. Jen opened the cupboard, acting like she was looking for something, because the lasagne was in the oven and she had nothing else to do. As she closed the cupboard door and turned to the doorway, she saw Judy in a brown floral dress, standing there shyly with a bucket of flowers and a bottoe of wine filling up her hands.

"Hi." Judy greeted Jen, as the blonde was trying to check her out discreetly which didn't really make sense since they were together now.

"Hey. You look nice." Jen whispered, as Judy got close enough that speaking louder would have felt too much. She cleared her throat and stepped back. "I can take these, and just put the wine on the counter, we can have some with dinner." Jen reached out for the flowers and started looking for vase.

Judy was standing there, perhaps waiting for a chance to sneak in a kiss between the nervous first date energy they were battling, but Henry came barging in, dragging Chatlie behind him, which made Judy jumpily turn to the boys instead.

"Hey." Charlie said awkwardly with Henry peeking from right behind him.

"This is Judy! Isn't she the best?"

"We've met before. At the grocery store." Charlie pointed out as he offered his hand out for Judy, who shook it politely.

"It's lovely to see you again, Charlie. Jen's told me a lot about you." Judy smiled at Charlie, instantly charming her way into his heart, if he already wasn't convinced that Judy was the right woman for his mom, this meeting alone would have done the trick.

“The lasagne is about to be ready.” Jen interrupted the meeting as she took a peek into the oven at her masterpiece, that didn’t actually look too bad. “How about we eat some dinner?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> also 5000 hits thats crazy. i really hope you guys have enjoyed, i never really expected this many people to be reading my stuff. nuts!


	22. No sloppy I Love You's

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i debated for so long on what kind of scene id end this on but this really felt right so im rolling with it. i hope you guys have enjoyed bcs this is the last chapter at least for now.
> 
> i might do a separate epilogue and at some point a second parter to this and i definitely have one inbetween chapters fic planned, but for now im taking a break from this universe to work on a few other fics
> 
> i hope youve liked this and the end left you content and also let me know if theres something you wanna see from me in the future. what do you guys want to read? in terms of this fic and this universe or in general. :-)

Judy flashed Jen a sweet smile before the boys lead her into the dining room. Jen came behind time a bit later with the lasagne and the wine.

Seeing Judy sitting around the table with her boys, made her heart flutter. Judy was listening to Henry intently, whilst sharing a knowing look with Charlie, who just smiled awkwardly through his brothers rambling. It really looked like a family scene, and Jen felt hopeful that it might become something of the sort. Judy noticed the blonde as she approached the table and her smile grew wider, making Jen stop in her tracks for a moment, just to admire the other woman for a few seconds.

"Smells nice." A very hungry Henry was leaning in closer to see the lasagna now, and Jen could proudly say it didn’t look too bad.

"I certainly did my best."

"Looks good mom." Charlie commented, smiling briefly at his mom. He really was playing the part of a perfect son tonight, and she didn’t mind, because this night meant a whole lot to her.

"I can't wait to eat." Judy jumped in too, and Jen put down the lasagna and sat down on the seat the group had left for her between Henry and Judy.

As soon as she was sat down, a wave of nervousness washed over her as she realized, that she wasn’t quite sure what to talk about. Normally the dinners in the Harding household were fairly quiet as Charlie was mostly on her phone and Henry would occasionally say something that wouldn't end up sparking much conversation. Jen looked around to consider what to talk about so that the dinner wouldn't just be awkward silence since they had a guest over.

"Charlie, I heard from your mom that you're pretty good at video games." Jen turned to the woman next to her, who in turn was now facing Charlie. "Is that something you think you might be interested in doing as a job? Making video games or testing them? I don't really know much to be honest." Jen was dumbfounded at Judy showing interest in her kids like this, and just sat still as she waited for Charlie to come to terms with this.

"Umm... yeah. I would love to do something with computers or video games. I don't really know yet what I want to do but that's definitely where I'm heading. Game design maybe? Or something." Charlie seemed genuinely pleased to be talking about this.

"That sounds so cool! Based on what I've heard you must be a natural. I'm sure you'll do great in whatever you choose to pursue."

"Thanks." Charlie looked over at Jen, and the blonde was pretty sure he was saying in very few words, that Jen had to lock this woman down as soon as possible, because she was a pretty dreamy stepmom candidate it seemed. "You teach art?"

"Mhhmm." Judy mumbled with a mouth full of food, continuing after a moment. "Yeah I've been teaching for a while now."

"Do you like.. make art too? Like on your time off?"

"She paints!" Charlie jumped up excitedly.

"Yeah. I do paint sometimes, not as much as I'd like to. Teaching keeps me pretty busy."

"Oh, but that's still cool. I can't paint for shit." Following the curse, Charlie looked over at Jen to see her roll her eyes but not bothering to correct him.

"Sure you can. Everyone can paint." Judy disagreed.

"Yeah. Judy says that it's just about having fun and making the canvas your own." Henry said, proud that he remembered the exact words.

"That's right."

"Well, I guess I could try it out."

Jen was just watching the conversation happen in front of her, suddenly coming to the realization that Judy got along with her boys almost better than she did. It wasn't a dreadful realization and she wasn't filled with envy or anger, quite the opposite actually. She was happy, she was excited. She liked seeing Judy interacting with her boys because she liked Judy and wanted her to fit into her family. It just seemed a lot easier than she thought it would have. Judy was laughing at something and turned to look at Jen, with momentarily questioning eyes looking for a sign that whatever Jen was thinking about, wasn't anything too bad. Jen let a smile take over and joined in on the conversation.

After dinner, and some natural seeming chatting and joking around, Jen brought up the boardgames, expecting Charlie would not agree to be a part of their version gaming night. But Charlie agreed, reluctantly, but still without much whining, and the four of them took out some games for Henry to choose from.

They ended up playing trivial pursuit which Jen noted wasn't really fair because Henry had learned all the answers to the questions from playing it so much, but Judy seemed happy to play it, it was an educational game after all. Unsurprisingly, Henry won all 3 rounds almost instantly, and no one else really had even a chance, though Judy was close to winning on the last round, Henry took the win home in the end.

After 3 games, no one except maybe Henry, wanted to play any longer, so Henry went upstairs with Jen to get ready for bed as it was getting late, and Charlie stayed downstairs watching tv with Judy. The two sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Charlie spoke up, still eyes glued firmly to the trashy reality show they were watching absentmindedly.

"I feel like I have to make sure you have good intentions with my mom." Charlie said, trying to sound perhaps manly and intimidating but what came out was just soft concern.

"I totally get that." Judy said, sensing the unsettling energy coming from next to her and also choosing to just face the tv. "I really like your mom."

"Good. She likes you too." Charlie nodded, which Judy could catch from the corner of her eye. "She's kind of been through a lot you know. I just want to be sure that she won't get hurt again."

This made Judy turn to Charlie, her eyes ready to start welling up with tears.

"I know that, Charlie. I'm gonna try to do my best to make her happy."

"I know, you seem like really nice." Charlie nodded. " But mom is pretty hard on herself and she's like the fucking master of self-sabotage. And I don't want you to leave her because she gets kind of difficult sometimes."

"I'm pretty good at that myself, so I think we understand each other well in that regard.. I'm pretty sure that's what love is really. Really seeing someone and being seen. Seeing parts of yourself reflected through others, you know."

"That's pretty high concept for me." Charlie said, now looking at Judy who was deep in thought. Both of them went back to the silence, perhaps considering the mention of love and what it meant for Judy and Jen.

Judy turned as she heard Jen's footsteps from behind them, and soon enough the blonde was in the doorway.

"You guys having fun?" Jen said, mostly joking, but the two of them seemed pretty content and comfortable.

"Yeah. Can I have wine?" Charlie reached out for the bottle but Jen got to it first.

"No!" Jen instead poured herself a glass. "The last I checked you aren't 21."

"Come on mom. Hayden's mom lets him drink wine with dinner."

"That's why he failed math! He no longer has any brain cells left. And if you want to become a computer ... engineer... or whatever, you better stay sober until you're done with your masters because with you grades I don't think you can afford to lose points in math."

"Fuck math honestly." Charlie groaned

"Math is pretty shit." Judy agreed, wincing a bit after the last word, looking up at an annoyed Jen.

"I thought you loved education and learning? I brought you here to mind wash my kids to love school not declare math useless."

Judy looked up at her with puppy eyes that Jen knew instantly, she was going to be looking at them a lot in the future. Against her best judgement, she gave up instantly and sat next to Judy on the couch.

"I'm sorry to disappoint but math is pretty boring." Judy cupped Jen's face and spoke out quietly, making Jen squirm a bit as the brunette's breath tickled her ear.

"Yeah it does suck." Jen admitted looking past Judy to see Charlie grinning at her, probably because of how easily she gave up when it came to Judy.

The three of them watched tv for about a half an hour like that, Judy cuddled up against Jen. It didn't feel that awkward, and watching a dumb reality show helped, since the occasional chuckles really lightened up the mood significantly.

Charlie went upstairs after his mom pointed out it was getting late, and Jen and Judy were left alone.

As soon as the two of them heard The bang of Charlies door closing upstairs, Judy threw her leg over Jen's lap and brought their lips together in a crash. Jen's hands were sliding awkwardly from Judy's hips and back to her ass, searching for place to settle down. Judy's hands were in Jen's hair holding her face, as she straddled the blonde. After a little bit of kissing and feeling Jen up, Judy pulled back, still sitting on Jen's lap, her hair a bit messy.

"I've wanted to do that all day." Judy said, slightly out of breath, smiling brightly.

"Really? Cause I had kind of a boring day at work so if you would have just called I could have -" Judy shut her up with a quick kiss.

"Sorry, couldn't help myself." Judy booped Jen's nose, before leaning back a bit to look around for her wine glass, once she found it, Judy sat comfortably on Jen's lap sipping her wine. "I really can't have more wine, I have work tomorrow."

"Sucks for you." Jen leaned to get the bottle, giving Judy's shoulder a kiss and making her giggle.

After Jen had finally finished the bottle the two women were giggling uncontrollably, Jen drunkenly and Judy (who was trying to stay as sober as possible to avoid the hangover) just because she was like that. The two women made their way upstairs, Jen bumping into various objects, making Judy erupt into loud laughter every few seconds.

A little later Jen was lying in her bed, she wasn't quite sure how she got there from the hallway, but she could make out a cloudy memory of Judy setting her down on the duvet, from the very back of her mind. Judy was in the bathroom, popping out her head every few minutes as she brushed her teeth, making sure Jen was alright, which the blonde was. Just drunk, but definitely feeling good. Probably the happiest drunk she had ever been.

"I'm glad to hear that." Judy chuckled, making Jen consider for a moment whether she had said that last part out loud.

"What?" Jen raised up her head and saw Judy make an appearance in the doorway of the bathroom. Jen's heart was beating with such vigor that she was wondering if it would stay in her chest. Just looking at Judy like this, a bit drunk, wearing Jen's clothes as she smiled sleepily at the blonde. God this felt like something so enormous, like something was bursting to get out, the feeling she caused within Jen.

"I'm happy you're happy." Judy leaned to the doorway, just looking at Jen, who had now gotten up to sit, just to be able to look at Judy as effortlessly as possible. Judy laughed a bit at Jen's face, visibly portraying that her brain was still ticking, not quite realizing what she had said.

"Are you happy?" Jen leaned back down with that, not really sure why she would, but she didn't feel comfortable having even a light emotional chat with Judy, when there was so much meaning in everything she said. Jen closed her eyes.

She didn't hear Judy say anything, but after a few moments, she felt a weight next to her on the bed, and two arms wrapping around her securely. She leaned into the touch.

"Yeah. I'm really happy." Judy settled her head onto Jen's chest and let the silence fall over them.

After god knows how long, Jen was pretty sure she had been repeating 3 words in her head fo hours, hoping she would make a mistake again and they would just slip out. But each word Jen said in her head with such care, that they didn't make it out of her mouth. There were no sloppy I love you's.

So instead, she squeezed Judy tighter against her chest, and gave her forehead a drunken kiss, hoping it would convey the same emotion.


End file.
